A Pet By Any Other Name
by BlackRoseRaven109
Summary: AU: What if InGen and Hammond created something before experimenting with creating dinosaurs prior to Jurassic Park's realization? An experiment goof lands them in question when a half human, half raptor is created. Through the years, Pet reveals to be more human than expected. Rated T for language, violence and alcohol usage.
1. The Revealing

**Hello everyone! Here's my Jurassic Park fan fic I've been working on since early 2000s. Its a long, long work in progress and a project I'm especially proud of. Eventually, it'll span over the course of the 3 movies as well as covering events taking place between movies involving the character I created. Please don't hesitate to leave reviews. Enjoy!**

***Edit - I've been going through a few chapters and fixing noticeable mistakes, such as with chapters 44 and 53 as well as a slight OC name misspell.**

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**1 - The Revealing **

John Hammond was excited about the progression his project he been doing and wondered if it really could happen. A few years previously, he had discovered a piece of fossilized amber not far from where a construction crew was digging for a new foundation for his petting zoo's visitor center. Once polished, a mosquito was visible inside and after analysis and careful tests were done, was discovered that residual DNA from whatever the tiny insect had fed on could be extracted. It was then when Hammond got the idea of possibly replicating whatever creature the DNA belonged to. After all, his corporation, In-Gen, specialized in genetics.

That was almost 5 years ago when the fossil was discovered and since then, a special team of scientists worked secretly and diligently to bring together the puzzle. Today, the long expected 'birth' of the genetically created creature was due, Hammond rushing to see for himself what his team was able to create. His science team was responsible for secretly creating many different cloned animals, but today was something different for his team to successfully accomplish.

Hammond rounded the corner and nodded to his top game warden, who was trying to help a team of scientists guide a sedated tiger, strapped to a transportation cart, through the halls. The lively, white bearded man continued through the halls and entry control points until eventually arriving to the lab where the specimen experiments were being conducted. With a slide of his ID card through a card reader, the access light flashed from red to green and the electronic door locks clicked open. Barely able to contain his excitement, the man swung the door open and entered the warm lab.

Immediately upon entering the room, his blue eyes locked onto the brown ones of his acting lead science specialist seated behind a computer. The Dr, who's name tag read Albert Jacobs, smiled and rose to his feet. "Good morning, sir." He rolled his shoulders to get a better look behind him to where a 10 gallon sized glass vat, filled with a brownish-yellow murky fluid, sat on a nearby table against a back wall.

Hammond strode to the table and picked up the clipboard to review the chart. "Everything stable? No changes?"

Dr Jacobs shook his head. "Temperature has been holding at a steady 92 degrees and tests to fluid samples all come back perfect."

Inside the container, Hammond strained to look through the murky fluid to barely make out a small foot with a sickle shaped claw thrash about before disappearing again within the fluid. The older man excitedly asked ,"And what is this supposed to be again?"

The scientist, a middle aged man about 15 years younger than Hammond responded. "Computer regeneration showed a rough DNA layout of what was best guessed as a Velociraptor."

Hammond's curious gaze fell back on the scientist's. "Best guessed?"

Jacobs buried his hands within his lab coat pockets. "The DNA retrieved from the mosquito specimen was in fact Velociraptor, _but_ because of the incomplete DNA code, alternate and more complete DNA samples were needed to tie everything in together, so to say." He shrugged and tilted his head to the side, smiling a bit suspiciously. "After all that, who knows what will pop out."

Hammond squared his eyes at the scientist before bringing his attention back to the murky filled vat. "I was informed the specimen was to be revealed this morning. How much longer until then?"

"You're just in time, actually, sir." He clapped his hands together and headed back towards the computer. "I was about to start the procedure to engage the releasing sequence of the specimen. Basically, it just prepares it for safe removal from the fluid without triggering any negative reactions." A series of clicks from his fingers typing in computer commands echoed the warm room. "Call it a type of birth."

"I see." Roughly 10 minutes later, an incubator was wheeled next to where Hammond stood anxiously waiting, Jacobs slipping on a face mask and rubber gloves extending to his elbows. A blonde haired, female science technician squeezed by Hammond and carefully, began disconnecting hoses from a special panel on the side of the container. With the click of a toggle switch located at the base of the life supporting container, a loud hiss filled the air as the container depressurized. Hammond instinctively brought a hand to his face to choke back a gag upon smelling the foul air escaping the vat. "Good heavens, are you sure the thing isn't dead?"

Jacobs chuckled. "No, sir. What you are smelling is shed tissue from the specimen. Amniotic fluid, in a way."

"Lovely." The older man's tone of voice of empty of all enthusiasm.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to step outside the room. Its to prevent any foreign pathogens from contaminating the specimen." A forced smile stretched beyond the edges of the face mask, Hammond becoming irritated. "I will let you know, personally, when everything is stabilized and it is safe to come in again." With a grumble, Hammond spun on a heel and left the lab, partially slamming the door behind him. Both the technician and the lead scientists exchanged glares, Jacobs shaking his head. "Alright..." He slid off the steel lid to fully reveal the murky fluid. "Let's see what we have here..." His hands and up to the middle of his forearms disappeared into the fluid as he carefully felt around for the specimen. "Ah hah. Here we go." Before removing the specimen from the protection of the fluid, he made sure his technician was ready with a clean towel. "On the count of three, okay?" The woman nodded and held her towel draped hands closer to the container in preparation. "One...two...three..." Jacobs slowly drew his hands out of the murky substance to expose a fluid covered, newborn baby sized, form lightly kicking about and gurgling. The geneticist's eyes widened at the sight and found himself unable to move in horror.

"Dr Jacobs?" The technician inquisitively stared at the man, urging him to hand her the specimen. "Dr!"

"What in the hell is this thing?" He stared in disbelief at what he was seeing and visually examined every feature of the humanoid creature in his hands. It wiggled and choked out a muffled cry, the technician's mind racing in panic. Seeing how the shocked Dr wasn't going to hand her the specimen, the technician reached over and quickly, but carefully, took it herself.

Pacing in the hallway, still, was Hammond who was mumbling under his breath in annoyance. His mumbling, however, caught in his throat when he heard the garbled cry. Frantically, he fought with his ID tucked away within his shirt's front pocket and fidgeted to slide it correctly through the card reader on the door. When the door opened, he charged into the room and straight to the technician trying to clear the fluid out of the infant's chest.

He took one look at the squirming, human appearing specimen and bellowed. "What the hell is the meaning of this?" Hammond's enraged blue eyes instantly fell on a color drained Jacobs. "What the hell have you done?" He pointed at the baby being cleaned and snarled. "This isn't a Velociraptor! Looks more like a deformed child!"

Jacobs brought a hand to his face and swallowed back an urge to be sick. "I swear, Mr. Hammond, I had no idea this would happen. I...I seriously have no idea what the hell happened, I mean-"

"You're fired!"

Dr. Jacobs looked to Hammond, disbelieving. "Fired? Sir, I-"

Hammond shot his attention to the technician, who appeared to cradle the new life within the towel in a protective manner. The man raged, "Destroy it!"

Jacobs rushed to join the technician and cut in. "Sir, this is a scientific and genetic break through! We can't destroy it, yet, until we know more about it." He could see Hammond was about to respond, but Jacobs cut him off again. "At least give my team and I a chance to study it and learn _how_ this happened!"

"Then study it when it's dead!" Hammond harshly grabbed the still partially unclean baby and left the lab. Following behind him were Jacobs and the technician, their pleading voices echoing the halls, desperately urging Hammond to spare the infant. "This creation is an abomination. I will not have it existing under the name of In-Gen as its creators!"

Jacobs continued. "That _abomination_ is worth over millions of dollars of In-Gen's money! You can't just destroy it! What will the co-operate executives say?"

Hammond burst through double doors, leading outside to where several controlled holding pens were located for animals awaiting veterinary examination. He scanned the area for a hopeful face and continued to the geneticist. "I own In-Gen and I don't give a damn what the corporate executives say." Hammond found the person he was looking for, them being the zoo's lead game warden, Robert Muldoon.

Though the game warden was busy, aiding in the pinning down of a warthog for a veterinarian to administer a tranquilizer in its the neck, he could see Hammond angrier than he ever had seen him before. Visible in his arms was a dirty towel wrapped around what he could hear was a mix of a crying baby and squawking bird hatchling. Muldoon rose to his feet in confusion upon seeing his employer coming in his direction. "What the hell is that?"

Hammond forcefully handed Muldoon the baby. "Shoot it, feed it to lions, I don't care. Just rid of that damned thing!"

The game warden looked at the towel kicking in his arms and pulled back the edges of it to find a baby girl as red as Hammond's face being the source of the cries. In shock at the request, Muldoon looked to Hammond. "This is a baby, I can't kill it. What in the bloody hell is the matter with you?"

"That _thing_ is not a baby! It's a disgrace to my corporation and I want it destroyed now!"

Again Muldoon looked down at the baby to see the eyes resembling a reptile's golden yellow ones groggily looking around and little clawed hands of the infant flailing about. Feet resembling nothing to what a human baby's should slashed at the air with a distinct, large inner toe with a small sickle shaped claw. When the baby's mouth was open from crying, there were a few barely visible teeth buds starting to peek out from the gums in the front of the mouth.

The dumb founded game warden shook his head in complete shock. "Why the hell did you create this?"

The older man seemed insulted. "I didn't. My science team decided to create it instead of a Velociraptor with the DNA provided from the amber sample. How _that_ came to be I am about to investigate" Hammond glared at Jacobs and his assistant from over his shoulder.

Muldoon swallowed his swelling nerves and walked over to his rifle leaned against the fence and grabbed it. In the man's mind, he couldn't help but feel how morally wrong it was to shoot the specimen, a science goof up or not. It wasn't the infant's choice to have been created and nor was it fair for it to be destroyed. He set the towel bundled, crying baby down on the ground and cocked his rifle, aiming it at genetically created creature. In the sights of the rifle, Muldoon could see the flailing infant desperately cry and uncontrollably roll around on the towel and it tore the man apart inside.

Hammond could see the hesitance in the man and demanded. "Shoot it already."

Muldoon's finger lightly squeezed the trigger almost to the point of firing, but paused a moment, before completely removing his finger from the trigger all together. He disarmed the rifle and slung it against his shoulder as he bent down to pick up the cold and hysterical baby. "I'm not going to kill it. I'm sorry. It may be an _abomination_ but it is still a life and a life that deserves to live." He shoved past Hammond and handed the baby back to Jacobs, Muldoon giving his employer a disgusted look. "Fire me if you will but I will not do it."

Jacobs snorted and cradled the baby to him to keep it warm. "Hell why not, he fired me. Why not you too?" Both scientists wove between the holding pens and disappeared behind the double doors.

Muldoon collected his signature, beige hat from a fence post and slid it on his head, locking gazes with Hammond. "Then consider this my 2 weeks notice." Hammond was furious and watched his most senior game warden follow the scientists.


	2. Pet

2 - **Pet**

Back inside the science lab, the female technician finished cleaning the baby, taking extreme caution around the claws to avoid getting hurt. She softly spoke to the baby girl, wrapping her up in a clean, soft blanket that was used on other newborn baby animals. "You must be hungry, huh?" She stood up and held the baby close to her. "I don't even know what to feed you."

A man's voice called from the door leading to the lab, it being Muldoon. "Feed _her_ meat…raw meat, to be correct, mixed with milk. That's my best guess anyway." In his hand was a nursing bottle for a goat and inside a partially bloody, milky substance. He entered the lab, rifle still slung over his shoulder, and handed the bottle to the technician.

Her wide, hazel eyes looked from the questionable bottle in his hand and to him, her stammering. "What, I-I...I'm a geneticist, not a..._baby Dr!_"

The game warden heaved a heavy sigh and set the bottle down on a nearby desk and leaned his gun against a wall. "And neither am I." He met the shaken technician's gaze, continuing. "I hunt and even kill animals in certain situations." Carefully, he collected the baby from the woman's hands and cradled the now squawking form. Taking the bottle, Muldoon squeezed a small amount of the milky meat mixture into the baby's mouth, waiting to see if she would accept the food. Jacobs stood nearby, a faint sweat shining on his brow, as he watched the tough skinned game warden tend to the baby.

Dr. Jacobs spoke. "I never would have figured you a baby person Mr. Muldoon."

The warden responded. "Yes, well…I used to watch my sister's baby in the evenings when she would have to go to class. Mix the tending of regular babies to the tending of tiger cubs and what you have is an attempt at tending to a mixed..._species?_" The Dr nodded his head in approval as he saw a new side of Muldoon he never would have thought possible. "So whose idea was it to botch Hammond's perfect creation?"

Jacobs hastily replied. "It wasn't intentional! I don't even know how this happened! I mean...how do you get a _human_-ish baby out of prehistoric raptor DNA mixed with frog DNA?" He shook his head and brought a hand to his smug expression. "I'm completely stumped on this."

The technician timidly spoke. "We need to get a blood sample and test it. Try and figure out how this happened. Maybe possibly trace back the human DNA to see who it could've been that sabotaged this."

All eyes fell back on Jacobs, him knowing they were blaming him, seeing how he was the head scientist in charge of the project. " Hey, don't look at me! I already said I don't know how this happened!" He frowned and scratched at his head. "I don't even know what to classify her as or even what to name her."

Hammond had been outside the lab door, listening to the people inside the room talk, before finally entering the lap office. "_It_ will not be named or classified. I doubt it will even live past 2 to 3 days if that, so don't waste your time."

Jacobs spoke up next. "Well, with all due respect, sir, yes we do not know how long she will live…but we also don't know when she will die. We have the resources to provide the appropriate care for her should anything happen."

Hammond's eye began to twitch in aggravation. "Fine. But it is to go _no where_ outside this compound or zoo." His tempered stare fell on Muldoon and he scowled. "If she is to be Robert's little _pet project_ then so be it, but don't involve me in it." Once more, a fluster faced Hammond stormed out of the room and back down the hall.

Jacobs stared blankly at the door and grumbled. "Well as least he called her a she. That's a promising upgrade classification from _it_!"

Muldoon was so focused on the baby that he didn't bother to acknowledge Hammond having a tantrum. The game warden found the reptilian like stare from the baby a bit unnerving, but did his best to look past it. A tiny, clawed hand wiggled loose from the blanket and swatted at the bottle, the man smiling. He outstretched his pinky finger for the little hand to grab onto, the baby doing so with a surprisingly firm grasp.

He could feel the still soft claws prick the skin on top of his finger and whispered to the baby finishing the last of the 2 ounces of milky meat. "Pet."

Jacobs looked down to the game warden, who placed the baby over his shoulder. "Pardon?"

"Pet. I'm going to call her Pet."

The technician cut in. "Hammond said he didn't want her named."

"I don't give a damn what Hammond said." Muldoon carefully pat the baby's back, a faint darker colored skin patch half the size of the baby's back becoming visible from beneath the blanket. The baby Muldoon named Pet started to squirm, her little claws digging through his soft shirt material and down to his skin. It was his turn to squirm next. "This kid is already like a tiger cub; born with claws!"

When Pet was finally asleep, Muldoon laid her down in the incubator to keep her warm while he went back out to work. Later that evening, the doctors had already placed themselves on shifts to tend to the baby during the night, them expecting the worse with every passing minute. Two days later, Pet's claws had started to firm up, making it harder to feed her. Knowing it would probably be best for the others handling her and for the baby as well, Muldoon carefully cut the sharp tips of the claws with nail clippers and wrapped her hands in baby mittens.

After two weeks, Pet was still healthy and growing to what Dr. Jacobs calculated, her apatite growing just as much. With Pet's growing, came firmer muscles, especially in her jaws as her forming teeth chewed through multiple bottle nipples. Muldoon had to eventually break her into getting fed by hand, the game warden using a baby's feeding spoon to try and feed a mashed hamburger meat and goat milk mixture. It was difficult the first few times but after a while, she got used to it. Muldoon felt proud of himself for helping take care of something he almost killed out of fear of what she would become in the future.


	3. From Over the Table

3 - **F****rom Over the Table**

8 months later...

Nothing entertaining seemed to be on, as it seemed to be more often then not. Muldoon was so focused on being frustrated at the TV that he didn't notice a small, clawed hand reach up and grab the edge of the coffee table. He sipped his beer and flipped to another channel as the hand slipped. The sound of claws scraping something got his attention as he looked over the table to where an 8 month old Pet sat, her meeting his gaze. She gave a squeal like bark and sighed. Muldoon smiled and sat back down to resume his channel surfing. Again, a clawed hand reached up to grab the ledge of the table followed by another one. Within a few moments, a pair of yellow eyes peered from over the table, Muldoon seeing them.

"Well look at you trying to stand up."

A chirp like bark came from the baby, which made the man curious. Over the course of the months he had been taking care of her, he had heard her make all sorts of different sounds and gradually, was learning what they meant by association. But this one was different. Pet barked again from where she stood, wobbling, before falling back down onto the carpeted floor. A faint snort came from the hybrid from the other side of the table, Muldoon getting up and going over to her.

He knelt down beside her and watched her try to get up again as she dug her claws into the wooden table's edge and pull herself up. After achieving in standing up, she wobbled and chirp-barked while trying to keep herself up. The game warden tilted his head to the side, observing the baby's actions with intense interest. The more unstable the baby became in her standing and grasping onto the table, the more desperate sounding the barks became.

To the floor the baby fell again, her releasing a more higher pitched screech of a snort. "You're frustrated, aren't you?" He was more thinking out loud to himself than anything as he took her by her hands to help her back up to a standing position. Curious to see if his guess on the new chirp-barking sound was right, he loosed his grip on Pet. Her stance wobbled again and she barked out, the man smiling to himself. "Distress." He huffed at laugh at the discovery and nodded. "You never cease to amaze me, Pet."


	4. Peek A Boo

4 - **Peek-A-Boo **

It was yet another long and hot day as cool air rushed over a sweaty and exhausted Muldoon. In his hand was a car seat that held a 9 month old baby girl, playfully hitting at a rattling toy fastened to the handle of the seat. He set the seat down in front the TV and turned on an educational video that taught basic shapes and colors for the baby to be entertained by. From what an employee in the zoo gift shop told him, starting children off on such videos at an early age helped them learn faster.

He didn't know if it was true or not seeing how the child was still so young and not like the average human child for her age. He sighed as he undid the straps on the seat to allow the baby free movement around the living room in the medium sized trailer. "Stay put and watch TV."

The game warden then made his way to where the bathroom was and started the shower. The baby looked to him and then back to the TV, her raptor like eyes scanning the movements on the screen. 15 minutes later, a cleaned up Muldoon emerged from the bathroom to find the baby not in front of the TV, him not surprised. He then heard the scratching sound of little claws on the kitchen tile and he cursed himself for forgetting to put up the baby gate. There, covered and sitting in a pile of flour was the baby, laughing. The man carefully picked up the flour bag as not to spill more and put it back in the cabinet, except this time higher than it had been.

Yellow eyes met his, Muldoon kneeling down closer to the baby. "Damn it Pet." The baby gave a playful shriek like coo as he picked her up and carried her towards the bathroom. Still clothed, he set her in the still damp tub and left. A few minutes later he came back with clean baby clothes and to find the hybrid standing up and reaching for the bar of soap. "Like hell you do." He sat her back down and began removing the lavender shirt from the squirming baby as he cursed at himself. "Now that we're both covered in flour, you little pain in the-" The baby started throwing her arms around and laughing. "Will you hold still?"

Again the baby squealed in joy and rolled over to try and crawl away, Muldoon grabbing her to sit her back upright. When she was completely undressed and the water was started, the man grabbed a clean wash rag. The baby kept trying to grab it away as he washed off the flour, her little claws occasionally getting stuck in the washrag.

She splashed, water hitting Muldoon in the face. "We've had this discussion! No splashing!" The baby started kicking her legs and slapping the water, the man getting frustrated as he was constantly hit with water. "You're worse then trying to wash a chimp!" He poured baby soap into his hands and started to wash the infant as she tried to grab at the bubbles forming on his hands. She squealed again either in frustration or fun, he didn't know. About that time, the baby saw the washrag float by as she grabbed it and started splashing once more. "You're bloody hopeless, Pet." He gave up trying to fight from not getting splashed as he washed off the soap suds from the baby.

Once she was clean, he stood up to retrieve a clean towel from the bathroom closet as the splashing subsided. When Muldoon looked back to the baby she had the rag over her head only to pull it down and kick her small, clawed feet. Again she put it over her head only to do the same thing by removing it and splashing. Finding the moment cute, Muldoon sat on the edge of the tub to watch the hybrid baby play, her looking up at him and smiling.

He watched her put it back over head only to pull it back down. The man chuckled, "Peek a boo." The baby erupted in a fit of laughs and shrieks, her putting it back over her head again. He pulled it down, the baby laughing once more. He continued to sit there for several minutes and play with the baby, him wondering what would things be like now if he would have killed her like he was ordered to do.


	5. Reoccurring Illness

5 - **Reoccurring Illness**

After a little over a year, things seemed to be going well, until one night. It was almost 3 AM when he heard it. Muldoon groggily ran a hand over his eyes to rub them and grumbled, sitting up. He paused before completely getting up, listening to make sure what he heard wasn't one of Pet's night time chirps, barks or shrills she frequently did in her sleep. Then he heard it again. It sounded like a whimper of pain and the man got up, trudging down the hall and to the next room where Pet's crib was. From the glow of the room's nightlight, he could see the baby squirming around in her bed with all the blankets kicked off.

"It would help if you kept the damn blankets on." He reached into the bed to put the blankets back on Pet, when he felt it; felt her. She was hot and most likely with a temperature. He felt of her forehead and noticed her nose seemed a bit runny. "Damn." He remembered helping his sister take care of her son when he was sick with a fever once and recalled what she did. "Alright, Pet. Let me get a cool bath going for you and hopefully, I still have some of that infants pain killer from when you had that cold a few months back." He went to the bathroom and flicked on the light, rummaging around in the medicine cabinet where he had a small collection of baby medications. "Nasal spray...ear drops...Anbesol...thermometer! I'm going to need that." He pushed aside a bottle of Benadryl. "Ah hah, here were go. Infant's pain reliever and fever reducer." Keeping the bottle in his hand, Muldoon went to the tub and started the water, adjusting it to be a comfortable temperature. A minute later, he took the baby's temperature and shook his head. "96 degrees, Pet. You definitely have a temp, kiddo." Though 96 might seem normal if not slightly low of a body temperature to some, it wasn't for the hybrid. Her normal temperature was 92.5 so a 96 body temp to her was equivalent to a 103 degree temp to others.

It wasn't long afterwards, he had the fever flustered Pet seated in the tub, still whimpering in pain. He gave the baby a dose of the medicine and sighed, getting a wash rag. Usually the baby loved fighting him for the wash rag, but this time, she didn't even make an attempt or show interest in it.

He further frowned. "You really must feel like crap, Pet." Muldoon got the rag wet and wiped it over the baby's head, her chirp-barking in response. "Yeah I know. I'm trying." Her weary, glazed over eyes drifted up as though silently begging him to make her feel better. "You're going to hate me in the morning, little one."

Throughout the rest of the night, neither of the two slept as the man constantly got up to check on the whimpering baby. He took her temperature again to find it had gone down to 94 degrees, but the baby still felt much more warmer than the man felt comfortable with. When 6 AM rolled around, he called Dr Jacobs. Within the hour, Pet was seated in a specially designed medical examination room located not far from the genetics science lab as Jacobs studied her.

Muldoon was getting impatient. "Any idea what's wrong?"

"She seems to be showing the same symptoms of a head cold. Sort of like the one she had several months back." He listened to her chest and heart beat. "There's some fluid in the chest, but not much." He then looked inside her ears, mouth and finally her nose. "Throat looks irritated, but that could be from the mucus draining from her sinuses."

"So you think its a head cold, then? No professional, definite for sure?"

"Look, Robert, I'm doing the best I can. I'm not even a certified pediatrician or veterinarian, here. I'm a geneticist, okay?" His brown eyed gaze fell on the angered one of the game warden. "If you want, take her to a hospital or somewhere with certified Drs if you think I'm not good enough. Just have fun explaining to them what she is when they ask you."

Beyond angered, Muldoon grabbed the man by the collar of his white lab coat and pinned him against a wall. "You will find out what is wrong with her or you will find your pathetic ass in the pen with the crocodiles. Now you do whatever it is that you need to, but I want a legitimate answer on what the hell is wrong with her by the end of the day, understood?" Jacobs nodded his head in understanding beneath the intimidating man's glare. "Good."

It was almost noon before the worry stricken man heard anything back from Jacobs. He had taken the day off from work, seeing how he personally wanted to keep a close eye on Pet incase her condition should worsen. A knock came at the small trailer door, it waking the man from his nodding off where he sat on the couch, near the sleeping hybrid. Not wanting to wake the baby, he slowly got up and answered the door. He squinted his eyes against the bright sun shining overhead to see Jacobs.

"And?" Muldoon questioned.

Jacobs sighed and handed the man a couple pieces of paper, each having blood test results printed on them. "I ran today's blood test against the one from several months ago. Seems like this is going to be a reoccurring thing."

"Reoccurring?" Jacobs nodded. "As in-"

"Its been almost 7 months since the first 'attack', I guess you could say." Jacobs pointed at the date on the top of the first result's page.

"But she didn't have such a high fever with it then like she's had this time."

"Exactly."

Muldoon slimmed his gaze down on the man in front of him. "Exactly, what _Dr_.? What are you saying?"

The Dr frowned and winced in anticipation of how the thought the concerned man would respond. "From what I'm seeing so far after just two attacks, its getting worse..."

"It? What is _it_?" He wasn't sure how much longer he could go without punching the man.

"_It_ is what she was apparently created with from the raptor's DNA. I went back and analyzed the catalogued DNA sample to see for myself if by chance, it was something linked to that sample. It was. Now, something like this happened a few years back when a chimp was cloned when it was sick. The first chimp was only sick just that once, but the clone was sick almost all the time until it died less than 2 years later because of complications." That was the wrong thing to say and Jacobs could see it when he saw Muldoon's face shine red with anger. "I'm not saying what Pet has will kill her, but there's a good chance it could progressively get worse or she could grow out of it. With today's technology and medicines advancing, a cure for this could possibly come about, too."

Muldoon neared the man and pointed a finger in his face, threateningly. "If she dies, I'm blaming you and exposing every thing you and In-Gen did to the press."

He shoved the papers back in the Dr's chest, almost knocking him down, and went back inside the trailer. The slamming of the door behind him caused the sleeping hybrid to jerk in her sleep in response, Muldoon afraid he might have woken her. He froze where he stood, watching her settle back down and mentally cursed to himself. Once he was satisfied the baby was soundly sleeping again, he returned to the couch and slowly sat back down. He never took his eyes off the baby, heart melting in his chest at the thought of how much worse she could get with the next sickness.

Ever so tenderly, he ran a thumb over the Barney dinosaur band-aid on the baby's leg from where Jacobs took the blood test and blinked back a tear. "No matter what, Pet, I'll always be here for you." He gently kissed the baby's forehead before finally drifting back to sleep.


	6. In the Following Years

6** \- In the Following Years...**

Over the course of Pet's childhood years, Muldoon taught the hybrid basic fundamentals like sitting up to walking, to even more advanced things like reading, writing and recognizing shapes. The more Muldoon and doctors worked with her, they found Pet was color blind to some colors like red, orange, yellow and pink. Colors like that would show up as either brown, grey or darker shades would come out as an almost black. She was a quick learner and quick tempered, Muldoon already having issues trying to raise her. Pet could sense unease from Hammond and that he didn't like her. Several times she tried to show him she meant no harm, but he wouldn't change his mind of her.

In the meantime, Jacobs worked tirelessly to find a cure for her illness and finally found something that would suppress the illness, but not cure it. After several tests, Johns found the virus wasn't communicable as long as Pet didn't bite or scratch anyone while the virus was active.

\- - Hammond's head swam with an agenda of things to do for the day. It was already 8 AM and though the day still early, felt as though there wasn't enough time for everything needing to be done. He sighed and continued drudging through the hallway, returning from checking on a cloned tiger cub, when he heard it. From amongst the bustling and chatting of scientists striding through the corridor he had managed to hear a child's voice. But it wasn't just any child he heard and in curiosity, followed the voice to the source.

Seated on an animal examination table was the 4 year old Pet, giggling at female veterinarian examining her with a stethoscope. Standing next to the examination table was Muldoon, looking as stern faced as usual.

The woman smiled to the hybrid and spoke. "Word has it you can say your ABCs. Is that true?" Pet giggled again and shyly nodded. "Oh wow! I want to hear! Can you say them to me?"

Blushing, the hybrid looked to her guardian, him nodding to her. "Go on. Give Miss Liz a show."

Hearing the child made Hammond's heart weigh heavily in his chest with guilt. He couldn't help, but tear up at the sight of the girl and in realizing she wasn't just some abomination. Since the day she was revealed, he held nothing but malice for the creation, never once giving her a second thought. Until now. For the first time, the usual ice clad, heartless features of the man melted away as a tear streamed down his bearded face.

Liz clapped her hands and gave Pet a high five. "Good job! That was great! I think that deserves a treat. What do you say, Robert?"

Wide, raptor like eyes shot over to the game warden as the little girl bounced where she sat excitedly. "Yes, yes, please?"

He sighed and rolled his glaring at Pet to where the older woman stood, smiling innocently. "Fine, but just _one!_"

"Yea!" Pet cheered as Liz helped her down from the table and guided her towards an office.

Once the two were out of site, Muldoon's attention fell on Hammond standing barely within view in the hall. The warden's faint smile quickly faded to scowl, but when seeing the saddened eyes of his employer, became confused. He joined the other man and crossed his arms over his chest, defensively. "And what brings you here, hmm? Surely its not because of Pet."

Hammond was still watching the office where the child had disappeared into and solemnly shook his head. "No, no. I was on my way back from checking on the clone cub when I..." he trailed off, looking to the ground almost embarrassingly. "I heard Liz and the child. I had no idea she had grown up so much." His watch returned to the office. "The child, I mean. ABCs, huh? Interesting."

Muldoon could see something drastically different versus before when studying the man and wasn't quiet sure how to take it. It seemed as though he almost cared for the little girl. "That's not all she knows, either. I'm taking her to a child's education consultant to see how she places in comparison to other children her age. She already knows so much and learns things so quickly. She's damn smart, she is, and a hell of a problem solver. I'm finding it more difficult to stay one step ahead of her before she figures it out."

"Is that so?" The question sounded more like an out loud thought than anything, him continuing. "Robert, do me a favor, will you?" The two men locked gazes, Hammond's appearing pleading. "I want to be notified of any scheduled appointments for Pet and their results, should I not be able to make it."

Muldoon's brow raised in surprise. Was this the same John Hammond he had been working for all these years? And did he _really _just address the kid by name? This was a first and he nodded at the request. "Alright."

Pet scampering up to the two interrupted the moment as she waved her cherry flavored sucker in the warden's face. "Look what Miss Liz gave me!"

He waved a hand in the air, dismissing the already hyper enough hybrid jumping up and down. "Yes, yes, I see it, Pet, now get it out of my face. It's just what you need, more sugar."


	7. The Snake and the Mongoose

7** \- The Snake and the Mongoose**

By the time Pet was 13, she had shown excellent tracking skills as well as the ability to fight and usually overcome many dangerous animals with Muldoon's assistance behind a rifle. It surprised everyone how resilient she was, mostly in part to her naturally thick skin and endurance. It took quiet a lot of persuasion on Muldoon's part to convince Hammond to allow Pet to tag along when tracking and tagging animals for the zoo, given the wealthy man's growing fondness and concern for the hybrid. After Hammond saw for himself the potential the hybrid had after joining an animal tagging excursion, he finally agreed.

Around and around it spun as the sound of sizzling came from a slice of pizza rotating in the microwave. Muldoon looked from his newspaper to see Pet still hadn't moved from the front of the microwave viewing pane. He spoke. "The bloody thing wont cook any faster with you gawking at it."

The hybrid gave a sideways stare from her current, bent over position and snorted as she curled her lip to bare her sharp teeth. "And your constant nagging wont make me sit down either."

The game warden sucked on the toothpick he had protruding from his tense mouth and continued reading his newspaper. "We do have work to do, just to let you know."

"When I'm done with lunch."

The man flipped a page. "Eat it on the way."

"Remember the last time we worked before I got to eat?" She shot another sideways glance at her best friend, the man meeting her gaze. "That's what I thought." Pet went back to staring at the sizzling pizza, her nose nearly pressed up against the glass.

Muldoon folded up the paper and walked over to the hybrid, smacking her on the back of the head with it. "It's done. Grab it and let's go."

Pet stood upright and snorted at the game warden in annoyance, her loathing his occasional hitting her with his newspapers. "That's it." She ran over in the direction the man was walking in and jumped onto his back, hooking her sickle raptor claws in his belt. He hated it when she did that as it tended to ruin his belts.

"Pet, you brat, get off me!" He continued hitting her on the head with the news paper even more.

"Stop hitting me with that damn paper!" Pet snapped. Frantically, she tried to grab at his swinging hand as he turned his back towards a wall and slamming her into it. She felt the air be knocked out of her lungs and she wheezed, "Not cool..." After a couple moments of regaining composure, Pet managed to grab the news paper from the man and proceeded to hit him with it in return. "You like that?" Muldoon slammed the hybrid into the wall again, the girl wrapping her arms around his chest to hang on. Again she was slammed into the wall, this time harder. He could feel her grip on him loosen and reacted quickly to the advantage. He grabbed her feet to pry her sickle claws from his belt and then reached for her arms wrapped around his chest and shoulders. With a harsh tug, he jerked the hybrid off his back and pinned her to the floor, her wincing in slight pain. "You bastard" she breathlessly groaned.

"Don't ever do that again." He glared at her in warning and she could see the seriousness in the man's eyes, her weakly snorting a bark in response.

Hammond's voice then echoed through the warden shack. "Will you two stop messing around and explain to me why I don't have an Egyptian Saw-scaled Viper on display yet?"

Muldoon gave Pet a final stare and got to his feet, responding. "We were about to head out, sir."

He looked to Pet, still laying on the floor in a daze from being knocked around and tackled and sighed. "Looked like to me a child's game" the much older man stated. The game warden glanced down at the hybrid attempting to get up and outstretched a hand towards her for assistance. She studied it a moment, half expecting him to pull another stunt on her and after deeming him sincere in gesture, accepted it. "Get to work. I want that snake before dark." He turned and left the warden office as Pet shot a clawed middle finger in the air in Hammond's wake.

Muldoon shook his head at the hybrid and grabbed up his rifle he had leaning against his desk. The hybrid, however, went to the microwave first before retrieving her gun and popped open the door. "Ah hell…I burned it again." She picked up the pizza by the crust and frowned at the slightly overdone pizza.

"What else is new. You're the only person I know who can burn water." The game warden slid a spare, loaded rifle magazine into a pouch and clipped it on his belt. He looked over to the hybrid to check on her status as she slung her rifle over her shoulder. "Ready?"

She grabbed a soda out of the fridge and nodded, answering. "I am now."

"Good." The two left the warden shack and proceeded to where an Army green 1980 Jeep Wrangler was parked nearby. They loaded into the Jeep and drove away, out into the hot Africa sun. An hour later they were parked and gathering their equipment they would need for handling a very deadly snake. "Remember what I told you, Pet."

She grabbed a beige, draw string bag out of the backend of the Jeep and hoisted the snake hook over her shoulder. "This isn't my first time snake hunting or capturing, Robert. I know what do to." She turned to leave and grabbed her last bite of pizza, stuffing it into her mouth.

He gave her a disapproving glare as she then took the snake hook and started to run it through the knee high grass and shrubbery in a sweeping manner. Muldoon sighed as he gathered his things and followed suit 12 feet from the side, away from her. Nearly two hours later, the African sun was still as hot as it had been earlier that day as not a word was said between Pet and Muldoon.

Pet paused and leaned her snake hook against her as she reached for her canteen she had clipped to her belt. "Feel the burn…it means its working."

Muldoon eyed her and shook his head. "Bitch, bitch, bitch."

The hybrid took a deep swig of water and poured a little in her hand to blot on her face. "What crawled up your ass this morning?"

"Excuse me?"

The hybrid recapped her canteen after taking a couple drinks. "You heard me. You've been grumpy all day and just an over all prick."

He rolled his eyes. "Pet, you're on one everyday but you don't hear me bitching do you?"

She shrugged. "I blame it on my genetic make-up."

Again he shook his head in his continuous searching. "You would. Any cheap excuse you can use to avoid the truth."

Pet laughed. "The truth? I'm not in denial, I know I'm a bitch."

"Watch your mouth, young lady." He gave the hybrid a stern stare.

"Or what? You're going to ground me?" She snorted. "Not like I do anything anyway."

The man stopped in his tracks, annoyed. "I could just leave your ungrateful ass at the shack for Hammond to bark orders at you."

Pet snorted. "Sometimes better him than you."

"I am so sick of your mouth, you know that?"

Pet was making mock hand puppets with her hands to show the man's constant talking, her knowing he was watching her. "I'm not saying anything." She continued with her hand puppet mockery as she swept her snake hook from side to side through the dry, knee high grass.

"From now on your ass is staying in the shack." Muldoon took a step forward when a sizzling like sound got his attention. He froze and slowly brought his hook to where a partially scorched bush sat and lifted a limb, the sizzling sound becoming louder and faster. There, coiled beneath the branches was an Egyptian Saw-scaled Viper, its various shades of brown scales glistening in the visible sun.

Pet heard the sound as she stood motionless and met the man's gaze. He didn't say anything, but there was a look in his eyes that brought a chill to the girl's spine. Her eyes fell to the bush that sat less then two feet away from his left leg, Pet shaking her head. Muldoon slowly lowered the bush's low hanging branches when the source of the sizzling struck out from under the bush and at the man's exposed leg.

Pet saw the event take place as she yelled, "Robert!" The hybrid dropped her stuff where she stood and raced to where the man was. The snake recoiled and prepared to strike back as the man grabbed at the severely painful and now bleeding bite. Pet leapt over the bush and landed between the snake and her friend as she saw the snake poised for another strike, it hissing. "Move it, Rob, get out of here."

He quickly undid his belt, him moaning in pain as he quickly formed a tourniquet 6 inches above the bite on his calf muscle. "Bloody hell that fucking hurt." The snake struck out at Pet, her avoiding it as she swung a clawed hand at the snake's head and knocked it over. The snake hissed again as it recoiled itself. Muldoon crawled backward to a safe distance as he dug for his pocket knife. "Shit. Shit!" His knife was in the Jeep in the center console. "Pet, I need my knife!" His panicked mind thought about going to the Jeep but it was a quarter mile away, in the distance. "PET!" He watched as the snake continued to strike out at the girl as she tried to back way to leave the serpent alone, but it kept following her. Muldoon tightened the belt around his leg as he watched the blood from the bite run onto his shoe. He hoped he would be able to bleed some of the venom out as he grabbed at the sore area.

Again Pet swiped at the snake, her letting out a growl like screech while dodging and avoiding the snake's attacks. Muldoon could feel the heat from the African sun become more hot as he started to feel lightheaded. He tried to sit up but found himself feel even more sick at attempting to move. He could still see Pet, though, swiping at the snake when it kept trying to attack her. It was like the famous battle between a snake and a mongoose. The hybrid gathered a handful of dirt and tossed it as the snake as it struck at her once more. This time, Pet didn't swipe at it to knock it down, but instead, grabbed at the serpent's head and used her raptor like inner toe to grab at the snake's lower body. The hybrid dug her claw into the snake's vulnerable belly scales and then bit into the snake's neck. She could feel its signature saw like scales dig into her hands and lips, but didn't let it stop her from biting at it again. The hybrid continued to bite away chunks of the snake's neck until the head and the body were separate from each other. She paused, her taking in the fresh taste of blood from her kill.

She wiped the blood away from her mouth and smirked at the head still in her hand. "Don't ever mess with me _or _Robert." She paused and shot a terrified look over her shoulder. "Robert!" She then dashed to where he laid, huddled up in a ball as he tightly gripped his leg. "Come on, Robby, you with me?"

"What took you long?" His voice was barely a whisper as she looked to the bloody mess on his leg.

She nodded her head as she knew what to do. "We need to drain it."

"Its too late…You should have done that immediately after it happened."

She shook her head. "No, no its been less than a minute." Pet could tell the belt was on so tight that the man's leg was becoming discolored from lack of blood flow. "Do you trust me?"

He met her gaze and saw blood coming from her mouth. "What?"

"Do you trust me? It will hurt like hell but it's the only way." The man didn't answer. "Damn it Robert do you trust me?"

The man choked out, "Yes, yes I trust you."

The hybrid grabbed one of the man's hands as their gazes locked on to one another. He could barely make out her large raptor like foot as he felt pressure from a sharp claw just above the bite. "One…" Robert tightly gripped the girl's hand. "Two…"

"Three." A sharp pain tore through his leg as he yelled out in pain. A moment later he felt the hybrid start to suck on the now claw slashed, snake bite. After a couple seconds he saw her spit a mouth full of blood out as she resumed her sucking out the poison from the bite.

She could feel the man wince in pain as she spit another mouthful of bitter tasting blood. "Breath, relax…I'm almost done." Again she took another bite and sucked out more of the venom, it having a very bitter taste mixed in with his normally sweet tasting blood. She continued to suck out what she could of the venom, the bitter taste becoming less after 5 minutes of bleeding out the bite. She wiped at her mouth as she grabbed her canteen and poured water onto the bleeding wound. "You still with me?"

"Go to hell."

The hybrid cocked an eye brow and grabbed the man up from the ground. "Don't worry, I got you." She glanced around to find were the Jeep was and frowned at far away it seemed to be. "You feeling ok?"

"How would you feel if you got bit by a snake only to have your leg damn near eaten off by a human raptor hybrid?"

She adjusted her grip on the man. "I don't know. Let me go get bit and gnaw my leg off."

"Smart ass."

Pet heard an almost laugh come from the man, her relieved to know he seemed like he would be okay. When she got to the Jeep, she loaded him into the back seat. "Prop up your leg so the blood doesn't rush so much to your heart. I'll be back." She handed the man her canteen and took off running back in the direction she came from. Less than 15 minutes later she was back at the Jeep and panting for air after having ran around to gather the abandoned equipment. She jumped into the driver's seat and got the keys out of the center console.

Meanwhile, Muldoon had started to slowly undo the tourniquet from his leg, so as not to cause a sudden rush of blood to his heart. He hoarsely spoke. "You don't know how to drive."

She pressed the clutch all the way down and started the ignition. "Who says?" With a bloody clawed hand, she threw the Jeep into first gear and took off.

"Since when?"

She shot him a smile over her shoulder. "I taught myself. Remember the week you were gone to that conference with Hammond? Yeah…I wasn't just sitting on my hands or cleaning the guns."

Robert chuckled and tried not to focus on the pain surging in his leg. "That's my Pet." The rush of air over his hot body from a fever felt good. "What would I do with out you?"

"Probably be dead or dying, especially now." She grabbed the radio and called over for medical assistance. Almost 30 minutes later, Pet pulled up to the animal offloading ramp, leading to the back entrance of the zoo's veterinary section, where she and Muldoon were greeted by a team of standby emergency medical technicians. Hammond followed the bustling med team to the Jeep and scolded at the situation. "What the hell happened?"

He watched as Muldoon was placed on a stretcher and wheeled inside for emergency care until an ambulance from the city could arrive. Pet replied. "He was bitten by a snake. A Egyptian Saw-scaled Viper to be exact."

Hammond's face went to a twisted sort of smile. "You got the specimen, I hope." The hybrid stared at the man in disbelief. Was he really that selfish to not care about anyone else, but himself? Muldoon had just been bitten and possibly could've been in a much worse condition versus now and all the wealthy man could care about was a damn snake? Pet went to the Jeep to retrieve the beige sack out of the passenger seat floor board and handed it to the man. He noticed there was a fair amount of blood coming from the bag and scoffed. "I wanted it alive."

She gave him a snarled glare. "I would rather kill something I can go back out and replace then loose someone I can't." The hybrid walked towards the vet section door. "And besides, you never specified you wanted it alive or dead." She swung the door open and glanced over her shoulder, continuing. "You just said you wanted the snake before dark."

Hammond opened the bag to see the headless snake covered in its own blood and the clouded, lifeless eyes of the decapitated head looking up at him. He closed the bag and gritted his teeth in anger.


	8. Vaccination Day

8** \- Vaccination Day**

Hammond impatiently stood outside the animal loading dock of his zoo as he checked his watch for the time. "Where the hell are you, Robert?" It was nearly 8 in the morning and he should have been there 10 minutes ago for Pet's quarterly checkup. 5 minutes later, an Army green Jeep Wrangler pulled up to the loading dock as Hammond could see the 14 year old hybrid in the front seat with bare, clawed feet propped on the side view mirror. Muldoon cut the engine and glared over at the teenager still singing to the song just playing on the radio. He shook his head at her and mumbled to himself, getting out the Jeep. Hammond bellowed, "And what is your excuse for being late this time?" He studied his game warden intently and strode over to the passenger side of the Jeep to glare at the hybrid.

She stopped in her singing to give a fake, teeth baring smile to the man as she wiggled her prominent, sickle clawed toes, knowing how much it bothered him. "Good morning to you too, Mr. Hammond."

The hybrid reached in the back of the jeep and got a large beige cloth sack, appearing to be carrying something alive and heavy. The millionaire eyed the bag. "What is that?"

Pet didn't respond in climbing over the Jeep's still closed door to land next to Hammond. Muldoon responded. "A young African Rock Python. Found her sunning herself on a rock not far from the warden shack on our way here so we pulled off to catch her." Muldoon watched Pet disappear behind the large double doors leading to the holding pens in the back of the zoo. "She's old enough for breeding so I'm hoping she'll do something with the male."

Inside, Pet passed several holding pens containing jackals as well as a warthog in the far pen as she proceeded through the animal pens and into the examination labs. There she found one of her veterinarian friends and smiled, laying the bag down on a table close to her. Pet speaking. "Got you a little something I thought you might like."

The mid 30s brunette woman glanced at the bag and reached for a pair of thick leather hide gloves she used to handle snakes. "Oh how sweet." The woman didn't sound flattered and started to untie the bag. Pet hoisted herself on top of the table to watch a TV mounted on a nearby wall of the lab. "Well, well, well what do we have here?"

Pet blew a bubble with her gum, watching the commercials pan through on the TV. "Merry Christmas, Liz."

"Very nice." She held the python behind its neck as it hissed at her, baring its many rows of sharp teeth in its mouth. "She just ate too. I would say earlier this morning if not late last night." She studied the shape of the lump in the midsection of the snake. "Judging by the shape and size, I would say a Meerkat pup."

"Yummy."

The vet, Liz, shrugged. "If you say so."

"Oh I think very much so." The commercials ended and the show's title came up afterwards, reading Paleo Science. The show panned the vast, barren landscape of where, Pet wasn't sure, before focusing on an area with tents and trailers. A few moments later, the scene shifted to show a team of men and woman located around a dig site where a medium sized dinosaur fossil was located. Pet's brow arched in interest upon seeing a man wearing a tan hat and in a grey and white plaid shirt with khakis start to explain the dig. The hybrid stated. "Hey now...hello..."

The vet glanced up at the hybrid who seemed entranced by the TV, the woman turning to see what the teenage girl was seeing. "Oh yeah him? It just started."

Pet was so focused on the TV program that she didn't notice Muldoon enter the lab and head in her and Liz's direction, speaking. "So what do you think of Pet's little surprise?"

Liz smiled, her green eyes wide with excitement. "She's a beauty and I hope will be very promising with Bruno."

Muldoon began to help the vet remove the snake from the sack when he noticed Pet entranced by the TV and not helping him. "Anytime you feel like helping, Pet, feel free."

"Yeah ok." She kept her attention locked on the TV and mindlessly reached for the bag.

"Will you stop screwing around?" He then looked to her face to see her ever rarely seen blue-green eyes stare, unblinking in the direction of the TV. "What the hell has you all soft all of a sudden?" He glanced over his shoulder to see what she was looking at in curiosity.

The program flashed over to the paleontologist who was leading the excavation site, Muldoon grumbling. "You've got to be kidding me."

Liz snickered and whispered into Muldoon's ear, "At least she's all googly over a guy and not some iguana or komodo dragon..."

Pet chimed in behind blushing cheeks. "Hey now, I heard that." She shot the two a narrow glare only to look back at the TV.

The game warden smiled in amusement at the hybrid. He found it rather interesting too, knowing her eyes only changed from the raptor like ones to the normal blue-green ones in very rare situations. Only when Pet's defenses were completely down or when she was sick did her eyes change. So what was it about the complete stranger that had the usually on guard hybrid so unlike herself?

A hiss from the python got Muldoon's attention and quickly, held the snake down the best he could so Liz could get a blood sample of the creature. A few minutes later, Hammond entered the lab with the usual white lab coated Dr. Jacobs following him. Snapping of blue latex gloves startled Pet and she turned to look at the approaching man. She questioned. "And what the hell do you exactly plan on doing with those?"

Jacobs was taken by surprise when she saw the hybrid's human like blue-greens eyes. "Its time for your annual checkup and everyone knows how much you love vaccinations!" The man stated sarcastically towards the end. Blue-green eyes shifted back to the commonly seen raptor ones, the hybrid releasing a sharp snort in annoyance. Jacobs approached the hybrid and removed his examination flashlight from his medical robe pocket, flashing it into her eyes. "Anything unusual feeling or just the typical same thing?"

Pet broke her chilling stare off the man to resume watching the TV. "Nothing new."

He pressed a thumb down on her chin, stating, "Open wide." The hybrid did as Jacobs shinned the light into her mouth to look at her gums, teeth and tonsils. "Good." He then began to feel the glands in her neck followed by examining the inside her ears. "Need to keep your ears more clean. I tell you this every time, Pet." He then took his sphygmomanometer and wrapped the cuff around her arm and started to pump air into the cuff. The man then took the girl's temperature and wrote the results from that as well. "Hmm...93.2. A little higher than normal."

Muldoon joked, "Maybe it's the TV getting her all worked up."

Pet slapped the man on the shoulder, snorting a bark louder than the first one. "Shut up, Robert!"

Liz stiffened back a laugh. "Come on, now, Robert. All girls have to have their hotties."

The hybrid growled under her breath. "You're not helping, Liz."

Hammond shook his head. "Oh for crying out loud." He brought his attention from the TV, to a flustered Pet before shifting his attention to Liz and Muldoon. "Where's that snake? I want to see it."

Even Jacobs had to chuckle and patted the girl on the head. "Okay, Pet, deep breath." The cold metal of the stethoscope startled the girl, her giving the Dr a harsh stare that he ignored. "Exhale" Pet did as asked and did it several times until the man was satisfied, him writing down that information as well. "Ok now for the fun part."

The hybrid grimaced. "I hate needles."

"Sorry, but it has to be done." Jacobs removed a syringe from his coat's side pocket and took off the needle's cover. "You know the drill."

She whimpered. "I really hate needles." She tried to remain relaxed as Jacobs tied an elastic band around her arm and swabbed the area he would puncture on the inside bend of her elbow.

"Relax." He then injected the needle, the hybrid gritting her teeth. "Doing good." He got two samples of blood and extracted the needle. "Well I got good news and bad news. Which do you prefer?"

"Oh yea what would that be?"

He extracted three other syringes from his lap coat and waved them in front of the girl's face. "Its vaccination time."

Pet's expression sunk into a frown. "Which ones?"

He read the labels on the sides of the syringes. "Rabies, TB and Hepatitis B."

"I hate the rabies shot. It screws with my stomach."

Muldoon snorted. "I don't know why you're bitching. You're not the one who has to clean up the messes afterwards."

Pet broke her gaze off the TV when it went to commercial again. "Can we just skip the rabies shot and call it done?"

Muldoon picked the young python up and placed it back in the sack. "And have you turn on me in the middle of the night? Like hell."

Pet hung her head down low and whimpered. Liz picked up the beige snake bag and walked away, Hammond following.

By the time they arrived at the zoo employee dorms, Pet had her head hanging over the Jeep's passenger door. Muldoon studied the girl and frowned. "Well better out then in I guess."

He got out and went around to the passenger side only to find the side of the Army green Jeep streaked with Pet's breakfast. She burped and studied her friend's gaze, locked on the door handle with uncertainty. "Sorry." Pet opened the door from the side and crawled out with the assistance of her best friend and legal guardian. "I feel like crap."

"My Jeep looks like crap."

"No it looks like regurgitation." The two walked to where Pet's room was, Muldoon guiding her to the bathroom. "I hate vaccination day." She plopped down in front of the toilet as Muldoon started the water in the tub.

Once the water was started, he left the girl alone in the bathroom to wash up and relax some. An hour later, she emerged from the bathroom, looking dreadfully pale and wearing a large tee shirt stretching down to her knees. She gave a weak smile to Muldoon, lounged out on the couch, and shuffled over to her bed to lay down. Pet couldn't help but genuinely smile when she saw the TV on and showing a continuation of the program she was watching previously in the animal examination lab.

The hybrid snorted a weak laugh and lazily rolled her gaze over to Muldoon, trying to hide an amused smile behind his hand he had his head propped on. She joked, "I hate you." The game warden snickered more.

Roughly 30 minutes later, Muldoon had noticed Pet had stopped being restless and seemed to be asleep. He shifted his attention from the TV and over to her to see she was almost asleep with half lidded, blue-green eyes trying to focus on the program. Ever so faintly, he could hear what sounded like purring on soft, steady breaths, him knowing it meant she was completely relaxed and happy for the most part. It brought a warming smile to the man's face to see something potentially so deadly be so at peace.

He questioned. "You look like you're about to pass out over there. Want me to turn off the tele, then?"

Pet responded in a groggy tone of voice. "I'll slit your throat if you dare turn off that TV."

Muldoon snorted a laugh and observed the hybrid from the corner of his eye. Seeing how it was a commercial anyway, he turned off the TV regardless of the girl's threat. Blue-green eyes instantly shifted to their golden yellow raptor ones and locked onto the man's blue ones not far away, the hybrid snorting. She drew a shaking hand out from under the covers and reached for the man seated roughly 5 feet away, Muldoon not moving. Exhorting what effort she could, Pet gave up and allowed her arm to hang limply off the side of the bed.

"Before you can slit my throat, you'll have to get off your ass first and well, it seems moving in general is too much for you right now."

The two stared at each other for a moment, Pet mumbling, "Bastard." The TV clicked back on and Pet snorted again to the man. "That's what I thought..."


	9. A Show of Force

9** \- A Show of Force**

Several days later...

Muldoon bust in through the hybrid's room, bellowing "Come on, Pet! Get up!" and turned on the overhead bedroom light.

The girl jerked awake and looked around, the room dark until it a bright light flooded the room. "Ah the light! It burns, it burns!" The hybrid made a hissing noise and covered her head with the covers.

"Get your ass out of bed, Pet." He went to her closet and pulled out a shirt and pair of shorts. "This is your first and last warning."

The hybrid mumbled. "Or else?"

"Remember the last time we had this discussion?" Pet peered an eye from under the covers, her seeing his signature rifle slung over his shoulder, it bringing curiosity to the hybrid.

"You never have your rifle on you when you give me a wake up call. What's going on?" Muldoon tossed a lightweight tank top and a pair of shorts at the hybrid as she checked the time on her clock by her bed. "2:30 AM? Robert what the hell is going on?"

"Stop asking questions and GET OUT OF BED! We don't have time."

Pet gave a bashful look to her close friend. "I will when you get out of my room and give me some privacy."

Muldoon then tossed a puzzled look at the hybrid as she gave a harsh stare at the man. "Hurry your ass up" and he slammed the door behind him.

She knew something wasn't right and didn't even bother to put her shoes while running out of her room after getting dressed. Parked in front of the dorms was Muldoon in the zoo's game warden Jeep, her jumping up. Her sickle toe claws hooked onto the ledge of the passenger door as she grabbed the upper railing with her hands to swing into the passenger seat. "So what exactly is going on?"

Muldoon tossed the Jeep in gear and hastily left the pebble riddled parking lot. "A leopard escaped its enclosure about 30 minutes ago and was seen running west, south west. If we hurry we can catch up to her." Pet reached into the back seat where her rifle was and smiled, seeing it already loaded and ready. "We're not going to shoot her, just so you know." Raptor eyes rolled over to focus on the frantic Jeep's driver. "We're going to tranquilizer her."

"So why have a loaded rifle with bullets then?"

"I like to be prepared for worst case scenarios." Pet sighed and set the gun down.

Once the two were clear of the zoo and on the outskirts of a nearby overgrowth, Muldoon paused the Jeep to look at Pet. She was standing up in the passenger seat and holding onto the windshield with one hand, her rifle in another. "Do you see anything? Smell anything?" He studied the hybrid's raptor like eyes as they scanned the darkness around them, the girl sniffing at the air. "Pet?"

"I can't smell anything but the exhaust. Turn off the Jeep." She handed the man her gun and reached under the passenger seat to reveal a flare gun. "When I find her, come to the flare. I can't hunt from smelling the damn Jeep."

"Be careful." She climbed out of the vehicle, much the same way she did when she got in and took off into a light run after landing on the ground. A few moments later, the hybrid had disappeared in the overgrowth.

Once she was away from the smells of the Jeep, Pet lowered her body closer to the ground and tried to get a scent of the escaped leopard. She looked to the stars in the skies and saw a star to use as a reference to the South, South-west direction and proceeded that way. What felt like 45 minutes later, Pet heard a rustle in some nearby shrubbery and fell silent. She sniffed the air and caught scent of the leopard as it moved again in the dark. Pet wanted to make sure it was the right leopard before shooting off the flare, her trying to focus in on it. The hybrid slowly moved in closer as the leopard darted out from under the bushes. Pet shot off the flare gun and took off after the leopard, the large cat more visible once out in the open.

A quarter of a mile away, Muldoon saw the flare shoot off into the air and cranked the Jeep up, tearing off in that direction. He flipped on the main spotlights mounted on top of the vehicle so to better see Pet or the leopard.

Meanwhile, the hybrid continued to follow the leopard and hoped that she would be able to tire it out so tackling it when Muldoon arrived wouldn't be too much trouble. She loaded up the flare gun once more and launched off another flare, her saying under her breath, "Damn it, Robert where the hell are you?"

Muldoon saw the second flare shoot up into the early morning sky from his right and quickly changed direction to follow it. "I'm coming Pet."

The leopard quickly changed direction and Pet did too to follow the cat. "Like hell you're getting away again." The hybrid let out a high pitched shrill as she picked up her pace in speed. "No more playtime. Here kitty, kitty." When she was a couple feet shy of the leopard, Pet sprung into the air and extended her feet and signature sickle claws in front of her as she tackled the large cat. Inertia caused the two to tumble forward a couple feet as the leopard swung a clawed forepaw at Pet, its claws grazing her arm. "Bad kitty!" Pet returned the gesture by striking the leopard with her own clawed hand across the cat's face, which the leopard reacted to. It reared up on it's hind legs and wrapped Pet up in a deadly embrace and biting her on her right shoulder. The hybrid let out a screaming cry of pain as her body went stiff from the pain tearing through every part of her body.

Muldoon heard the piercing sound of a high pitched scream and knew all too well what the sound meant. "Stay with me Pet. I'm coming."

Before, Pet was trying to keep the injuries to the fierce cat a minimum, but now she didn't care. The animal in her kicked in and on instinct, dug her sickle claws into the hips of the feral cat and a clawed hand to its throat. A roar of pain filled the hybrid's ears and she shrilled in return, lips curled back to reveal her partially carnivorous teeth. She then clawed at the cat's face once more, causing the leopard swat at her with its own powerful, claw extended paw. The hybrid quickly acted and used her available hand to grab the cat's right foreleg as she dug her claws into the tender flesh of the leopard. In a blink of an eye, she saw her opportunity and took it to bite at the throat of the beast in an attempt to incapacitate it.

Muldoon could hear the growls of an apparent fight between a large cat and what he knew was Pet and sped up. He followed the sounds and just as he topped a hill, saw the two in the distance with his counterpart trapped beneath the cat. He grabbed his tranquilizing gun he next to him and stood up to use the top of the windshield as a hand rest to steady his aim. The game warden flipped the safety device off the gun and looked down the barrel to where the sites were. "Not my Pet you don't!"

The hybrid could see the headlights of a vehicle nearby and knew it was Muldoon, her thankful he finally decided to show up. Pet released her bite just in time to see the cat's other par about to make another vicious swipe at her and she grabbed it, holding the leopard in place above her long enough for Muldoon to take his shot. Muldoon pulled the trigger of the tranquilizer gun as the dart shot at the half reared up leopard, positioned perfectly above the hybrid, in the shoulder.

He jumped out of the Jeep and grabbed his animal restraint pole, running toward the leopard. "Pet, watch the head!" The hybrid met the leopard's fierce gaze as a flash of white fangs and golden fur were pulled off of her forcefully.

The leopard started to put up a fight against the restraining pole only to be partially choked from Muldoon pulling harder on the cord. "Pet get off your ass and get the other pole!" The hybrid fought her own body's protesting to sit up and stared at the frantic sight before her.

She tried to stand up but only fell back onto the grassy earth as she cried in pain from her injuries. Muldoon saw the bloodied girl fight to get up only to fail, him afraid he was loosing her due to blood loss. "Pet stop laying around!" Meanwhile, the leopard started to seem like she was getting weak as well as she lowered her body in a defensive position. "That's it, girl…lay down."

Pet forcefully hoisted herself up with her left arm as she kept her right arm tucked away close to her body. "Sounds like a plan to me." Pet finally gave up fighting the urge to get up and laid down, feeling her entire body ache.


	10. The Strongest Power of All

10** \- The Strongest Power of All**

Muldoon's attention kept darting between Pet and the slowly easing down leopard, the man not wanting to leave the cat unattended, tranquilized or not. Slowly, he started side stepping over to where the hybrid laid to get a better look at her, his mind racing with the worst fear. He could see faint, but bleeding claw marks on her left arm and figured that was the extent of her injuries until he saw her bloodied right shoulder beneath her hair.

"Oh hell!" Not caring about the leopard anymore, the warden tossed aside the restraining pole's handle and ran to the hybrid. "Pet!" He quickly tugged off his half buttoned down shirt he wore over a white tee shirt and pressed it firmly against the free bleeding bite. "Talk to me, Pet. Say something."

The hybrid moaned and winced in pain. "Next time, you get to run after the escaped attraction."

Muldoon shook his head and breathed in relief. "Damn it Pet, you wanker." He grabbed her left hand and placed it on the shirt he held over the bite. "Hold this." He took a final look at the now unconscious leopard and ran to the Jeep, radioing, "This is Tracker Team 1 calling to Base!"

Hammond sat in the warden shack, starring blankly off into space when the sound of the radio startled him. "Robert, tell me you have the target..."

The game warden squeezed the radio mic in anger. "Yes, yes I have the target."

"Excellent! And Pet? Where is she? Is she alright?"

Muldoon paused in shock when he heard true concern in the other man's voice. "She needs medical attention. She's been beaten up pretty good."

Hammond's face went bright red with anger. "Get your ass back here. I will have a medical team waiting." He tossed the mic aside and wasted no time to run towards the main zoo complex.

Meanwhile, in the animal treatment lab, a game warden and medical team sat on standby waiting to hear something of the chase, one of the members being Liz. Everyone knew when Muldoon and his sidekick went out on call, the animals usually sustained some injuries and would need medical care. When they heard it was Pet needing care, the team gathered their cases of supplies and rushed to their van parked in the back.

Liz grabbed the radio in the van and called over. "Tracker One, what is your location?"

Muldoon was going back to tend to Pet when the calling out on the radio got his attention. He would have ignored it, had it not been such an important question regarding his location. He relayed his coordinates and in seeing Pet struggling to get up again, dropped the mic and ran towards her. He shot another look at the unconscious leopard, knowing that leaving the animal unrestrained was a very dangerous thing to do. He always nagged on people about leaving a dangerous animal laying around, that doing so was like leaving a loaded gun laying around a convict.

But at that exact moment in time, the leopard was the last of his concerns as he rushed back to the hybrid with a first aide kit. He cracked it open and began to study the severity of the damage done to the girl's shoulder the best he could with shaking hands. He grabbed the small 6 oz bottle of water and twisted the cap off with his teeth, lifting the shirt to pour it on the wound to wash it off. Pet shrieked in pain and grabbed at the bite, inadvertently scratching Muldoon's hand in the process.

The warden jerked his hand back, yelping in pain. "Shit!" He popped the girl upside her head, momentarily forgetting about her bite.

"Ah, you ass hole!" She grabbed at her shoulder again and rolled over in pain.

"Oh shut it, you pansy." The warden then grabbed at a gauze swab packet and tore it open with his teeth as well, pouring some water on it to clean the bite. He spoke to the hybrid as though she could hear him. "You've had worse than this. This is nothing!" Another pair of spot lights came over the rise where his Jeep was parked and soon, heard the voices of three more people and of Liz.

One of Muldoon's most trusted wardens and good friends, Jophrey, saw the leopard laying in the open, asleep and unrestrained. His attention quickly fell on his boss huddled over a bloodied Pet and knew how much the man cared for the hybrid. Jophrey yelled back to the medical team, "Alright let's get her tied up and back to base." The black man then went to where the other man was to offer assistance. "Where can I help?"

Muldoon dabbed at the bite, him noting one of the teeth punctures wasn't stopping or slowing in bleeding. "Ready a needle."

Pet whimpered. "Not a needle, _not a needle_..."

Jophrey frowned. "Shouldn't we wait until we get her to base or let Liz do it?"

"Ready a damn needle!" Jophrey knew better than to question the other man and did as told. Once the bite was washed for the most part, Muldoon started to stitch up the more severe puncture wounds to stop the bleeding. "Get me a packing pad." The other man did so and tore into a thick package, him handing to the man. "Tape." Muldoon applied the thick packing to the washed and stitched up wound as Jeffrey taped around the bandage. "Alright, Pet, try to sit up so I can get to the other side."

The hybrid snorted a whimper and with the assistance of the two men, was brought up to a slouched over seated position. After tending to her injuries, Muldoon gathered the hybrid up in his arms and took her to the Jeep where he carefully laid her down in the backseat. He called to his co worker from over his shoulder. "Get the leopard back to base. I'm going to the clinic." As he drove off, chunks of dirt and grass flew up from the back tires spinning.

Jophrey returned to where Liz was, kneeling over the injured leopard and tending to its wounds. "He never leaves an animal unrestrained, no matter how harmless."

Liz wiped away the blood from the leopard's neck where a piece of furry skin flopped around. "The strongest force in the world is the power of love."

The Jeep was now a distant glow only to completely disappear once lost around a turn. "Like a master and his faithful hunting dog."

When Muldoon arrived, he was greeted by Hammond as well as Dr Jacobs and an assistant with an animal stretcher. Hammond bellowed, "Would you please tell me what the hell happened?"

The game warden watched Jacobs and his assistant lift the whimpering and groaning hybrid from the Jeep and gently place her on the stretcher, Muldoon responding. "Cut the crap, John. There's no one here to impress with your false concern. Everyone knows how much you hate her."

Hammond grabbed the warden's sleeve and pulled him closer. "Let me tell you something right now, Robert, she might not be my conceived daughter but she is still my blood and damn it all to hell if I'm not going to stand around and watch you toss her to the lions."

"Leopard. It was a leopard I _threw_ her to. Get it right." Hammond's expression contorted into disgust, the warden continuing. "And why not? If I recall, it was you who was so desperate to have me _destroy_ her when she was born." Muldoon jerked his sleeve out of the other man's grasp and shoved his way past the rich man. Hammond remembered all too well that day and wished more than anything he could go back in time to do things differently.

Meanwhile inside the lab, Jacobs cut away the hybrid's shirt as his assistant started to prepare the girl's arm for an IV and pain killer. The Dr peeled back the bandage to asses the severity of the injury and properly clean it, frowning. Pet barked in pain and clawed at the examination table, not wanting a repeat of hurting anyone on accident.

The assistant, a woman in her mid 40s, studied the stitches done to the bite mark punctures. "Should I remove those?"

Jacobs took a careful glance at the work and shook his head in reply. "Leave them. Muldoon knows what he's doing when it comes to first aide." The Dr carefully started to clean away the shallow cuts on the hybrid's left arm, thankful her skin was as thick as it was.

Standing outside the surgery room was Muldoon, him watching through the viewing window, Hammond soon joining him. "When she was born..." Hammond started, "I didn't know what she would become. A ravenous, emotionless monster or something with more medical trouble then what it would have been worth." The two men were silent as they watched Jacobs finish bandaging the hybrid's arm. Hammond sighed, there being a slight quiver in his breath. "As I watched her grow up I realized that she is more human than most of us. She is always showing a lot of selflessness to everyone around her and even to me occasion, which amazes me. "

Muldoon crossed his hands over his chest and watched the two start to wipe away any residual blood on the hybrid in an attempt to search for more injuries. The game warden spoke. "She wants no enemies. She's like a child, seeking acceptance from those around her and just like an animal being more afraid of us then what we are of her."


	11. Bad News

11** \- Bad News**

Later that night, Pet woke up to a dark room as the constant and steady beeping of her heart monitor echoed what she felt in her body. She half expected to wake up to find her best friend next to her in the chair he had been occupying but he wasn't. He hadn't been gone long seeing how she could still smell his scent.

Partially hushed voices outside the room grabbed the hybrid's attention, her honing her listening skills onto the conversation as she heard Hammond speak. "Robert, this is a great opportunity for you and you were my first choice for this!"

There was a moment of silence, Pet hearing her best friend next. "And what about Pet? A large percent of what I have done could not have happened if it wasn't for her!"

"I'm working on that. I'm meeting with the executive board of InGen on Thursday in Palo Alto, California and will propose the idea of her transfer then." The older man patted his most trusted game warden on the shoulder. "She is more then qualified for the job and especially for the specimens that will be worked with. There is no way they could refuse her."

"Let us hope so."

Pet closed her eyes when she heard the door handle jiggle, there being a momentary flash of light through the darkness until it disappeared behind the door closing. Muldoon saw the resting hybrid exactly how he left her and quietly tip toed back over to the chair he was previously in. He looked to his watch to see it was 4:14 AM, Pet quietly asking, "You're not going to leave me are you?"

Muldoon sighed. "Not if I can help it." The two were silent a moment, Pet feeling her friend's strong hand grab hers. "How are you feeling?"

"I've felt better."

"Its just a flash wound" the man chuckled. Pet deeply signed and groaned on exhalation, closing her eyes and going back to sleep from the medications.

When 9 AM rolled around, Hammond came to check on Pet to see how she doing and smiled upon entering. "I see you're awake."

The hybrid snorted. "I'd rather be dead."

"And your personality undamaged as usual."

"Why are you here, John?" She narrowed her eyes at the man. "And don't tell me you're here to check on me, either. I won't believe you."

"Actually..." the man started, sitting down near the bed, "I'm here to inform you Robert has been approved for transfer to the new park."

Pet dug her clawed hands into the bed sheets, a slight tear forming. "So I heard." She attempted to relax her subconscious and unintentional attack on the sheets. "And what about me? Will I be going, too?"

Hammond swallowed and glanced down at the floor. "I, uh, I don't know, yet. So far the way the executive board is talking, no."

"The executive board?" The hybrid shifted her white knuckled grip from the sheets and to the bed railing as she pulled herself to sit more upright.

"Yes, they're the ones in charge of making the decisions regarding the best interests of InGen." He nervously looked to the yellow eyes solely focused on him.

She spoke behind a partial, carnivorous tooth bared snarl. "Aren't you the one _in charge_ of InGen?"

Hammond stammered. "Y-yes, but I-"

"But you're letting your company run you, John." The wealthy man seemed taken back by the girl's comment. "You're letting them turn you into the Alpha Bitch instead of you being the Alpha Prime."

Hammond leapt to his feet upon hearing the offending jab and felt his face burn hot with anger. "I _was_ going to try and convince them during the next meeting to have you transfer, as well, but with that attitude, you can stay here and deal with being alone!" Pet barked a screech and swung a clawed hand at the man, only to fall short of striking him. It's like he knew she would attempt an aggressive act against him and knew just where to stand to avoid getting hit. He gave her a final sneer and left the room, slamming the door behind him.


	12. A Matter of InGen Security

12** \- A Matter of In-Gen Security**

The room grew tense with anxiety as John Hammond was late for the own meeting he called with the executive board members of InGen as 8:20 AM rolled around. The meeting was scheduled for 8:00 AM and the board members already had enough time wasted that a couple were about to leave when Hammond entered the room.

He had a bright smile on his face when he spoke. "I do apologize for my being late, ladies and gentlemen, but I had an important call come in last minute from the park. I'm sure you all know why I requested this meeting to be held…again."

One of the executives met gazes with a very stern and serious faced Asian woman, the woman speaking. "Mr. Hammond, with all do respect, we are all very busy and we do not have time to continuously spend on these little meetings of yours."

The older man's face met the expression of the woman he had his attention focused on, him replying, "I would hardly call them little, Mrs. Yoshida."

"They always seem to be about the same thing these past 3 months and so far, the answer is always the same!"

Hammond rested his cane beside the chair he refused to sit in, as he wanted to stand to show his being higher than them in an executive way. "Mrs. Yoshida this is my company and I will _not_ have it or its executives run me." The woman as well as others seated around the conference table seemed offended. "Now I have a responsibility to fulfill and that is to make sure that Jurassic Park is properly staffed by people who are more than confident in their ability to perform their job required of them! And whether anyone here likes it or not, Pet _will be_ transferred to the island."

A man appearing to be his mid 50s, leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest and spoke. "Not to question your authority or decision, _sir_, but I-10 HY is an unpredictable danger."

"_Pet_ is one of the best game wardens I have and her partnership with warden Robert Muldoon has proven to be very affective."

"_I-10 HY_ has always been a matter of InGen security and its being transferred to another job location to work with people who don't even know of its existence puts us, InGen, in a very delicate position."

"I would think Pet running away on an entire continent would place InGen in danger, not her running away on an island no bigger than 8 miles across with the closest largest land mass being 150 miles away across an ocean!" The man tried to calm himself as he took a deep breath. "She is my responsibility since she is my creation and she _will_ be going to Jurassic Park by the end of the month. If anyone wishes to object then please do so, now."

Mrs. Yoshida spoke up again. "I have an objection, _sir._" Hammond eyed her as though demanding she continued. "Call of the wild."

"Pardon?"

A couple of the other executives nodded their head in agreement, the woman continuing. "I-10 HY has no idea her true potential and the capability she posses."

Hammond barked, "Like hell!"

"She has worked around zoo animals all her life but has no real familiarization or connection with those animals."

"What is your point?"

"If we agree to have her transferred to work on this park then she will eventually be introduced to the very creatures she is part of. We chance of her obtaining a call of the wild. If that happens, she could very well turn on everyone she works with."

Hammond erupted in a disbelieving laugh. "I don't believe it. She is the most qualified person to work with these creatures and you're afraid of her going bonkers over working with the things. I trust Pet and know she would never, _never_ harm anyone!"

"Its an option we should consider. Is the risk worth the taking if we have her transferred to Jurassic Park and possibly killing who knows how many workers? Or do we keep her where she is?"

"Would you rather her kill an entire village? Small town? Maybe several villages or towns? Or have her kill a few workers on an island where she can't run away from…" The room went quiet, the Asian woman looking away from the older man. "That's what I thought. The decision is made. Meeting dismissed."

The room slowly emptied of people, Hammond still leaning over the table with his fists clenched in anger. He would not let anyone control him.


	13. A Stubborn Mule

13** \- A Stubborn Mule**

Channel after channel offered nothing worthwhile to watch as a clawed thumb kept pressing the channel forward button on a gray remote. Pet mumbled, manually keying in the numbers to the Discovery Channel.

Muldoon glanced up from cleaning his Winchester 30 6 rifle to see a rather bored looking Pet toss the remote onto the table. He spoke. "If you're so bloody bored then why don't you make yourself useful and start cleaning something…"

He grabbed his .50 Cal rifle leaning against his desk and tossed it at the hybrid, her catching it in a clawed hand. "But you seem to be having so much fun playing with your toys."

The man jabbed the cleaning rod and tissue down into the barrel and twirled it around. "Too bad the remote's mute button doesn't work on your mouth."

Jophrey laughed from the other side of the room and leaned back in his chair to prop his feet up on his desk. "Probably a good thing cause it would be broken by now."

Pet mocked a laugh at the black man and threw her soda bottle's cap at him. He caught it, but just barely and shook his head. The man threw the cap back at the hybrid who laughed and swung a hand at it, causing it to hit the side wall and ricocheted to where Muldoon sat.

The game warden yelled at the two. "Alright knock it off!"

Pet glanced back at the man from over her shoulder. "You're no fun at times, you know that?" She started to disassemble the gun. "A real fuddy duddy."

A couple hours later, the guns were spotless clean and hanging back up on the weapon's rack. Muldoon was now sharpening his favorite knife as Pet filed away on her claws. A commercial came on TV advertising the latest episode of a documentary series Discovery Channel was doing on a paleontologist and his work in the United States called Paleo Science. Pet paused in her sharpening and smiled wickedly. Jophrey saw the commercial and joked, staring at Pet. "Oh hell, here comes Pet's little obsession." A malicious, fang toothed smile contorted the hybrid's features. "Reminds me of that poor bloke who interned under Liz for a little while." The warden shook his head. "Poor guy didn't know what to expect."

Pet leaned back in her squeaking desk's chair and spoke. "One day Robert, I'm running away to America. Just giving you fair warning."

The man didn't look up from his own knife sharpening when responding. "Like hell you are."

The hybrid eyed him. "There's no worthwhile hotties here and well..." she pointed her nail file at the TV screen. "He seems like he'd be worth the effort."

Jophrey chuckled. "Oh the irony of. I can see it now on World News Tonight...world renowned paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant falls victim to a crazed, teenage raptor girl."

Pet laughed. "Well, I do remember him saying how excited he was about excavating raptors." She sat up and stretched. "I'll give him something to excavate. I mean, I am part raptor and all."

Muldoon paused to look up at the still devilishly smiling hybrid. "Excuse me?" He pointed the knife's tip at her, glaring over it with a stern expression. "You need to watch your mouth, there, little miss." The two locked gazes, her golden yellow eyes bright with amusement. "And don't you dare think I'm letting you go anywhere." He continued to sharpen the knife. "I'll tranquilize your ass and hog tie you to Major if you try."

She smiled. "And why is that?"

The two stared at each other again. "Because you're my pet. You belong to me!"

She looked at the knife blade and then to her friend. "Right. Well I don't see a collar around my neck or a branding on my ass saying I belong to you so I guess I have no obligation to stay here."

Muldoon yelled to Jophrey, who was munching on popcorn now, still lounged back in his chair. "Get me the branding iron, Jophrey. Looks like we have a stubborn mule who needs readjusting."

She shot the middle finger at the game warden. "Readjust this!" He grabbed her hand as she tried to pull away, her erupting in laughter as Muldoon grabbed her from her seat and threw her over his shoulder. "Jophrey help me!" She laughed and kicked her feet in protest. Muldoon opened the door leading outside the warden shack and tossed her in the back of zoo's army green Jeep. Following behind the two was Jophrey carrying zip ties. "No fair! Two on one isn't fair!" Muldoon grabbed at her clawed hands while the other man grabbed at the hybrid's flailing, clawed feet. He then wrapped a tie around her ankles and pulled it to fasten it tightly as Muldoon did the same to her hands. "Let me go!"

"Bitch, bitch, bitch." Muldoon took the hybrid's hands and zip tied them to one of the Jeep's canopy supports.

Jophrey went back inside the office only to emerge out a moment later with a roll of duct tape. "Think this will shut her up?"

The black man was all smiles and ripped a piece of the tape off. Muldoon grabbed the hybrid's head and held her still as the other warden taped the hybrid's mouth shut. Muffled sounds same from the flailing hybrid as she tried to peel the tape off her mouth by rubbing her face on her shoulder, only to be unsuccessful. The two men went back inside the office, the hybrid pausing in laughing when she saw Muldoon grab the water cooler from outside the door.

A chirp like bark of distress escaped the hybrid, her knowing she was about to be in for it. Moments later, she wasn't laughing anymore and desperately attempted to get out of her plastic bonds. She tried to cut them with her claws on her inner toe but found her claws were more for tearing at flesh and not plastic. It wasn't but a few minutes later, that the two wickedly smiling men came back outside and carrying a sloshing water cooler between them.

Pet's eyes got wide and even more so flailed about, hastily slashing at the plastic ties. Knowing she was doomed, she balled up in anticipation. A moment later, a sudden rush of ice water rushed over the hybrid as her body seized up in shock. Jophrey burst into laughter and nearly fell over, Muldoon giving the hybrid a vengeful smile and pointing a finger in her face. "Maybe that'll teach you, hmm?" Muldoon yanked the tape off the hybrid's mouth, watching her raptor eyes trace his every move. "Now if I cut you loose, will you behave?" Pet snorted. "Or will you continue to be stubborn and mouthy?" The hybrid lowered her head and squared her eyes on the man, a faint growl escaping her throat. The game warden got his knife from its case at his belt and flashed it again at the hybrid. "Your choice. Either way, whether you choose to be stubborn or not, you will not win this challenge." He tilted his head to the side in question. "What's it going to be?" Again, Pet snorted in annoyance. "Set one claw out of line and I'll readjust your ass, got it?"

Pet didn't respond, but instead watched the man cut the ties keeping her restrained to the Jeep. Still, Pet didn't move, but her louder breathing and sharp bark let the two men know things were about to get serious. Jophrey stopped laughing and quickly ran inside the warden shack as Muldoon gestured to the hybrid for her to bring on whatever attack she had planned.

She slowly stood up as Muldoon slowly backed up, him re holstering his knife. With a final snort, Pet took a step off the back of the Jeep and landed on the ground, flexing her signature toes. "You just made a big mistake."

The game warden stood his ground, unsure of what the hybrid had planned. "And what are you going to do about it, missy?"

She scoffed a laugh and playfully slapped the man in the face. "Hah!"

"You're dead!" Pet narrowly avoided being caught by the man and quickly, ran back inside the warden shack. Muldoon was close in pursuit behind her and almost caught her again when her footing faulted to a small puddle of water on the floor from the cooler. To the floor she crashed and Muldoon acted quick to tackle her and pin her down. "You know better than to slap me!"

Jophrey lounged back in his chair to resume eating his popcorn, laughing, when Hammond's voice echoed the warden shack. "Am I interrupting something?" Quickly, Jophrey sat up in his chair, attempting to look professional as Muldoon and Pet got to their feet to better face the newly arrived man. "I just thought you might like to know, Robert, that your replacement, Terrence Mitchell, is here." Hammond studied Pet and noticed she was dripping wet. "He just arrived this morning and is on his way here to start the job."

Pet looked to her best friend, who straightened his posture to something more professional. "Yes, sir."

The thought of Muldoon leaving Kenya to go to a better job in Costa Rica made the hybrid sad. She couldn't blame him for accepting the offer, seeing how it was much better pay and someplace other than Kenya. Hammond continued. "Try to get him spun up the best you can in the next week before you fly out, Saturday morning."

The game warden nodded. "Will do."

Hammond shifted his posture and cleared his throat. "And good news for you, Mr. Haughton." The wealthy man's gaze fell on Jophrey. "You, too, have been selected to transfer to the new park. Although, you will be leaving a couple months after Robert, if you chose to go, mind you. It should give you some time to get things ready with the family for the move. You don't have to go if you choose not to, but the offer is there."

The black man's face went bright with excitement, him responding. "My wife has been wanting me to get the new job for quiet some time. I think she'll be ecstatic, sir, thank you."

Hammond smiled at the man as he brought his attention Pet, her silently pleading behind animalistic eyes. Seeing the heartbreaking stare made the older man's generous smile melt into a solemn frown. He watched the hybrid turn away from and sit quietly down behind a desk she had come to call her own. "Congratulations, gentlemen."

Hammond nodded to the men and turned to leave, Muldoon following and calling out. "And what about Pet? You can't just _leave_ her here with people she doesn't know."

"Yes, Robert, I know and I'm working on it. I don't want to get her hopes up only to crush them with bad news _should _the request for her transfer be declined."

The man heavily sighed and ran a hand over his face in frustration. "Why are they so damned concerned over where she is, anyway?"

Hammond frowned at the other man's persistence. "They are worried that if she is around certain specimens on the islands, she will pick up a call of the wild and become uncontrollable. She knows nothing of how to really use her potential."

"She knows damn well how to use her potential!" Muldoon yelled out. "She's constantly around predatory animals. What's on those islands are nothing different."

"They are much different!" Hammond face started to turn a brighter red the more his patience started to thin. "They are nothing like any of the feral cats or wild dogs here at the zoo! If she goes to that park, she will start to learn more about what she really is!"

Muldoon started to grow furious. "She deserves to know. All she has done since the day she got here is do everything you have told her to do and without complaint. Maybe Pet will pick up a call of the wild and maybe she wont. She's part raptor, yes, but where it counts, she is human."

Hammond slammed his cane on the ground. "Damn it, Robert, I'm not getting into this argument with you again! This discussion is over." He starting walking away, but paused, stating over his shoulder. "I'll let you know something, soon."

Muldoon didn't think he had it in him to leave Pet, them being all the other had. When his wife left him, she left him in ruins as he loved her and tried to give her everything she had ever wanted. But it wasn't enough. His time at the park when on his rotation drove her away from him seeing how he seemed more focused on his job then his marriage. It was then that he turned to alcohol for a relief, which almost ruined not only the job he loved but his life, as well.

He was on his way to loosing everything when she saved him by him saving her. If he would've shot Pet without question on the very first day, he might as well used his rifle on himself. The result would've been the same, either way. She saved him, though, giving him a reason to seek professional help and clean himself up. He was a better person because of her, to which he couldn't thank her enough for. The man frowned and went back inside the shack, it quiet except for the echoes of Pet sharpening her claws. The two people locked gazes and he frowned, turning his attention from her and onto his computer.


	14. Welcome To Kenya

14** \- Welcome to Kenya**

An hour later, a knock came at the game warden office door followed by the head of a red haired man poking his head inside. "Excuse me, is this the warden office?"

Jophrey gave a welcoming smile to the nervous looking man and replied. "Yes it is. Come on in."

The other man did so as Muldoon greeted him. "Terrence Mitchell, I presume?"

The red head nodded his head, a bright smile on his face. "Mr. Muldoon I just want to say how happy I am to be here and work with you."

"Wont be for long. Just a week until I transfer to another job location."

"Congratulations, by the way, on that. Seems like it would be much more exciting than here, that's for sure." The man's cool blue eyes visually took in the details of his surrounds until his eyes fell on a pair of bare, clawed feet propped up on a desk. He traced the muscular features to a pair of golden yellow eyes intently watching him, unblinking. "Hi. You, uh...must be Pet, right?" The hybrid snorted and drummed her clawed fingers on her desk chair's armrest. "So you're the reason I had to sign a 12 page contract on confidentiality, huh?" The man widely smiled, Muldoon studying the man with the impression he was truly on a personality altering drug. There was no way in hell anyone could be that happy and bubbly with personality. "I can't wait to start working together."

Pet's deadpan expression shifted into a partially threatening one as her upper lip curled in a snarl to reveal a section of carnivorous teeth. Muldoon blocked the other man's view of the hybrid, cutting in. "She's not an immediate people person."

Terrence chuckled. "Oh it's fine. I'm great with animals so I'm sure her and I will get along." On the other side of the shack, Jophrey buried his face in his hand and shook his head.

Pet clenched her jaw and snorted again, looking to Jophrey in annoyance and disbelief at the newcomer. She had to get out of the office before she attacked the man and stood up, stating, "I would love to stay and chat about the upcoming great times, but I'm overdue for my afternoon disemboweling of a defenseless creature."

She strode out of the office and slammed the door behind her, Terrence watching her. He looked back to Muldoon and continued to smile, rather stupidly, too. "So what's first thing I should know about?"

Muldoon saw movement outside the door window that was behind Terrence, him seeing Pet holding up her two middle fingers. The bitter and enraged look the man gave the hybrid made her leave the window when a curious Terrence turned to see what had the other warden so sour. Muldoon grumbled, "Follow me, I'll give you a tour of the grounds" and grabbed up his rifle on his way towards the door. He stepped out into the hot Kenyan sun to see Pet quickly scurry off around the corner. "PET!"

A moment later, an annoyed pair of eyes peeked around the corner of the warden office. "Yeah?"

Muldoon waved a hand at the Jeep, gesturing for her to get in. "You're coming with Terrence and I on a tour around the zoo."

She hung her head low and whimpered, doing as told. "Why me? Why not Jophrey?"

The game warden unclipped the keys from around a belt loop and dangled them in front of the hybrid. Her annoyed glare turned into a vicious smile, Muldoon winking. Terrence, not noticing the two's plotting, climbed in the backseat as the veteran game warden slid into the passenger seat.

Pet adjusted the seat and mirrors to she the rather excited red haired man in the backseat, resembling a hyper dog. "So where to, first Robert?"

He shrugged and buckled himself in. "Let's start from the beginning, shall we?"

Pet nodded and put the Jeep into first gear, driving off. Terrence continued. "If there's anything I should know about, please let me know so I can take notes for future reference." The hybrid watched the man behind her take out a small pocket sized notebook and mini pen.

"First thing to know," Pet started as the Jeep proceeded down the bumpy trail, "Is hold onto your ass when going down the trails." She had no regard for making the trails seem less by slowing down. The red haired man gave her a look of uncertainty through the rear view mirror as he bounced around in the backseat, even while holding onto the canopy supports.

2 hours later, the Jeep pulled back under the carport beside the warden shack, a sick Terrence hanging his head over the side of the vehicle. He had been that way for the last quarter mile of the tour. Muldoon shot a quick smile to Pet before turning around in the front seat to better observe the other man. "You alright, Mr. Howard?"

He lazily nodded and waved a hand in the air. "Yeah, I just need a moment."

"Okay."

Pet chuckled and followed her best friend into the shack. Jophrey raised a brow in interest to the two. "So? How was the tour?"

Muldoon replied. "Well he got further down the trail than I thought he would and Pet was driving."

"Oh boy." Jophrey wrinkled his face in sympathy.

Terrence shuffled back into the shack and sat down near Pet sat and hoarsely spoke. "From now on, I drive."

Pet tried to appear offended. "But, I don't get to drive often."

The rubbed his sweat glazed face with his hand. "I can see why."

Muldoon patted the man on the back, stating, "Welcome to Kenya."


	15. The Pet Belongs To

15** \- This Pet Belongs To...**

The following days went by smoothly as Muldoon explained to his replacement the order of things as well as what would be expected of him. He also introduced him to the rest of the staff, like the veterinarians and medical teams on permanent duty status.

That evening, Pet laid in her bed, watching it get dark outside through her partially opened dorm window. She didn't bother turning on a light, but instead allowed the darkness to consume everything around her. She sighed with the surging ache of sadness she felt in her chest. In just 5 days, her best friend would be gone and halfway across the world while she would be forced to stay in Africa to deal with Captain Personality.

A subtle knock came at her door, it startling her. She sat up and turned on the light next to her bed, calling, "Come in." Muldoon cracked the door open and peered inside. "Can't sleep either, huh?"

He shook his head and stepped into the dimly lit room. "Too much going on in my head right now."

"I know how you feel." She watched the man sit heavily on the couch and get comfortable, his head hung low.

"I'm sorry, Pet. I tried."

The hybrid forced a smile for the man's sake. "I'll make it just fine. Might take a while, but its nothing I can't handle. Captain Personality is going to need a good breaking into, is all."

The two sat in silence for a little while, Muldoon softly speaking. "At least Hammond waited until Saturday morning to fly me out instead of Friday so I could be here for your birthday."

Pet tilted her head off to the side in thought. "So much has been going on, I forgot about Friday being my birthday."

"15 years." He smiled when meeting the gaze of the teenage girl.

"Doesn't seem like it."

The man snorted. "To you! You're not the one that had to deal with the crap over the years."

Pet shrugged. "It'll all be over soon and you wont have to worry about being there to baby sit me anymore."

Muldoon cursed under his breath and ran his hands through his hair.. "I would do anything to spend the next 15 years doing it all over again." He brought his saddened eyes back on the hybrid, seated on her bed with her legs crossed. "Exactly the way I did the first 15 years."

The hybrid's expression wrinkled in disagreement. "Can we skip the whole diaper phase? Because I'm sure I had some moments, during that time, I'd rather _not_ relive and actually remember..."

Muldoon chuckled and threw one of the small decorative pillows on the couch at the hybrid. "Brat." Pet collected the pillow in her clawed hands and held it against her chest. "Which reminds me..." The man withdrew a small, fist sized box from his back pocket and handed it to the girl. "Happy Birthday."

The hybrid opened it to find a brand new leather collar in it with a dog tag hanging from it. She read the stamped letters on the tag out loud. "Pet. I-260102 0579."

She met the gaze of the man before her and smiled. "You said you didn't have a collar and what good hunter doesn't keep his Pet on a leash."

He took the collar from her hands and put it around her neck, it looking more like a black choker than a collar. "This Pet belongs to me."

She smiled and wrapped her arms around her best friend. "And I always will."

He held her tightly. "Always."


	16. It's Not Goodbye

16** \- It's Not Goodbye**

5 AM came too soon as a black Mercedes pulled up to the zoo employee dorms, Hammond seeing a light shining in the window of Pet's room. Outside the door were Muldoon's luggage bags, Hammond looking to the vehicle driver. "Load bags, will you?" and he got out of the car to go to the room. He paused in front of the door, hearing the two people inside talk. Gently, he knocked on the door, Pet answering.

She locked gazes with the frail looking, white clad man and snorted. Behind her, Muldoon stood up, shaking his head. Hammond spoke. "Alright, my boy. We better get a move on if we're going to catch our 7:45 flight."

Pet bit her quivering lips together and stood aside to let her friend pass by. The game warden laid a hand on the girl's shoulder, drawing her in for a final hug. He spoke into her ear. "It's not goodbye. I'll call you when I get there."

Pet choked back a sob. "I better not find out you've replaced me, either, with some other raptor."

Muldoon laughed. "Well I was planning on it. I mean, if a half breed can half ass the job, I at least figured a full blood would get the job done completely."

She lightly punched him in the arm as they both walked outside and to where a Mercedes sat and waited. "Bastard."

"Brat." He held her at arms length and patted her head.

The hybrid playfully slapped the man's hand away from her head, continuing. "If you don't call me, I will find you. Remember I specialize in tracking and hunting."

Muldoon smiled and headed for the car, Hammond following. Once the bags were loaded up, the car started to drive off as Pet watched on behind teary eyes. She dug her feet's claws into the dirt, fighting the urge to cry until she couldn't fight it anymore. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she shrilled into the calm, night air in anger and sadness.

Before she knew it, she was tearing off into a run in pursuit of the dust cloud trailing behind the Mercedes roughly 100 yards away. She kept running as the lights in the distance didn't seem to get any closer but only further away. Pet finally allowed herself to fall to the ground, light headed and out of breath, watching the lights completely disappear over a hill. She let out a screeching roar of pain again and again until her voice was hoarse with sobs. Behind her, the headlights of vehicle shined down on her but she didn't care, not anymore. She could hear the door open as footsteps neared her. She let another roar of pain as gentle, strong hands guided her to the vehicle and sat her down.

She balled up in the passenger seat of Major, body wracking with sobs, as Jophrey got in the driver's seat. He wished there was a way he could help her but he couldn't. "I'm here for you if you ever need anything." Pet was silent of words, but not of snorts and shrieks as he drove her back to her room.

Meanwhile, Muldoon sat quietly in the back seat of the Mercedes, not wanting to look behind him for fear of seeing Pet chasing the car. He whispered to himself. "Goodbye, Pet."


	17. Surprise

17** \- Surprise!**

Days slowly crept by, it already being a week since selected zoo personnel were transferred to the new park, Pet not being one of them. She was forced to remain in Kenya to work with her new partner, Terrence. Neither of the two really liked working with the other, but did what they could to tolerate the other for the sake of getting work done instead of fighting. Naturally being one to challenge another for dominancy, Pet kept instigating a fight with Terrence, which usually resulted in arguments. On one occasion, she actually got him pissed enough to show physical force, but that quickly ended when she pinned him down.

She missed her and Robert's wrestle matches, as they proved to be a challenge and always with her being defeated. Its what made challenging him so fun; the effort needed to try and overcome him. He was the only person who was able to incapacitate the hybrid without the use of tranquilizers, such as the time Terrence felt he was forced to do. Or at least, so he explained to Hammond in a report, but everyone knew he did it on purpose in an effort to defeat her at her 'challenge' game.

Pet grumbled and leaned onto her forearms she had against an adolescent lioness's neck while restraining her. Terrence held down the animal's hips, feeling the animal become weaker to the influence of the tranquilizer. Content the lion was finally asleep, he nodded to Pet, but frowned when he saw her attention was elsewhere. He glanced over his shoulder to see Hammond striding towards them through the animal holding pens, a smile on his face.

Her gaze remained locked onto the much older man, her upper lip slightly curling. He spoke. "Ah, busy as usual, I see."

The hybrid snorted in frustration and looked away, Terrence forcing a smile. "Good morning, Mr. Hammond." He looked to Pet next. "On the count of three, okay?" She nodded. "One, two, three..." Together in a fluid movement, they hoisted the sedated lioness off the floor of the concrete pen and onto a nearby animal transport cart.

Hammond continued. "Pet...I'm here to tell you...pack your bags." The girl paused in her fastening a leather retraining strap around the lion's waist and looked to the bright blue eyes, framed behind glasses.

"What?" She saw a piece of paper in the man's hand, him holding it out to her. "What's this?"

"Your transfer request has been approved and-" but his breath was knocked out of his chest when Pet collided with him to tightly hug him. He wheezed out, "You'll be flying out next week. Tuesday to be exact."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you..." Pet continued, never relaxing her embrace of the man. She was even so excited, she gave the man a kiss on his bearded cheek, which completely shocked not only him, but everyone else nearby.

Terrence stiffened back a laugh for the now blushing man's sake. "Congratulations, Pet. Looks like you got your wish, after all. I would say it's been fun, but it hasn't."

Her expression shifted from a smile, to a smirk. "Like wise. I hope you become a hyena chew toy."

Terrance sarcastically laughed and patted the hybrid on the shoulder. "And I hope you're eaten by a Rex."

Hammond questioned, "What the hell is the matter with you people?" The hybrid took another look at the paper and shrilled in excitement, tightly clutching it to her chest.

That was Thursday as it was now Tuesday, Pet on a helicopter and peering out the window to the ocean beneath with blue-green eyes. Hammond sat across from her, a pleasant smile stretched across his face. He wasn't sure which she was more excited about; finally being out of Kenya, getting to work with dinosaurs or possibly because she was going to be reunited with her lifelong best friend and guardian.

He chuckled behind a more broad smile. "You look like a kid on Christmas, Pet." She darted her focus to the man across from her and cocked a sideways smile. "Keep an eye out on the horizon. You should be seeing the island, Isla Sorna, coming up any minute now."

She scooted further to the window and nearly mashed her face against the window, straining to see as much of the horizon as possible. "Sorna...Sorna...That's the containment island, correct? Not the actual park, island..."

"Correct. Most likely, you will be working primarily on Isla Sorna until the park, its self, is completed nearby on Isla Nublar. Hopefully it'll be complete here in the next couple years, or so."

Pet nodded in understanding. "Does Robert know I'm coming?"

Hammond's smile was nearly stretching from ear to ear now. "Nope. I figured I'd leave that to you as a surprise."

"Oh boy."

"Hopefully you've reviewed the island maps and species list?" His smile faltered to raise his brow in question.

Pet nodded. "Oh yeah. First thing I did was access the park information to get spun up on everything."'

"Excellent." The older man lounged back in the helicopter seat and folded his hands over his cane, glancing outside the window as well.

Within 15 minutes, the helicopter was descending down onto a heli-pad near the island's small aircraft landing strip, where a Jeep painted in the park's colors waited. "Why Jeeps? Honestly, John." She shot a joking smile at the man. "There's other vehicles out there capable of utility work _other_ than Jeeps."

He shook his head and unbuckled once the helicopter touched down and the door be opened. Both people crawled out and scurried over to where the Jeep was, Pet taking in a deep breath of the fresh, jungle air. It was completely different in smell versus Kenya. Here, there was a nice floral aroma wafting over the humid winds whereas in Kenya, it stunk and the air was hot and dry.

Hammond gestured to the Jeep, Pet crawling into the back as he got in the front seat. "As soon as we get to the main compound, we'll work on getting your ID badge for security access first."

"Okay, sure." It was a question of whether or not she was listening, as her wide eyes gaze took in every detail around her.

"Also, I'm having your personal bags taken to the dorm complex for permanent status employees, located near the main complex." Pet nodded and widely smiled with the growing anticipation of seeing Muldoon again after several days of them being apart.

Minutes later, the complex came into view and the Jeep pulled up to the electrified front gate, waiting for it to be opened. "The electricity bill much be a bitch to run this place."

The Jeep drove threw the gate and around the protected courtyard, Pet jumping out of the Jeep before it came to complete stop. She jogged into the main center and smiled a sharp, toothy grin at the mural painted behind the front desk. One of the security guards, a slightly heavyset Hispanic man with a thick mustache, stood up to speak. "Excuse me, can I help you?"

She met his gaze. "Oh, uh..."

Hammond entered the complex and answered the guard. "It's alright, Thomas. She's going to be working here." The wealthy man grabbed the excited Pet by her arm and guided her around the desk and to where two joining hallways forked. "There are two hallways, here." He pointed to his left. "This one, here, leads to the genetics lab and animal holding pens while this one" he pointed to his right, "leads to the control room and administrative offices."

Pet nodded her head and followed Hammond as they strode into the control room. A pair of brown eyes belonging to a black man looked up from a computer screen, a partially burning cigarette hanging from his lips. He stated under his breath, "I wasn't aware the island was open to kids, now."

A rather over weight man wearing glasses took a deep chug of a soda and leaned over from behind his own to computer to see for himself. "Oh her. Eh..."

"You know her?"

The two locked gazes in confusion, Hammond stating, "Mr. Arnold..." The black man sat up straighter in his chair to better see the addressing man from over the top of his computer monitor. "I need you to assist this young lady, here, in getting an ID badge made. She will be working with Robert in the game warden office."

Arnold's gaze slimmed on the girl as he took a puff of his cigarette. "A little young to be a game warden, don't you think, John?" The blue green eyes of the hybrid shifted to a raptor's, both men instinctively rolling back in their chairs. "Whoa, what the hell?"

Pet snorted, Hammond lightly gripping her shoulder. "Gentlemen, yes, this is the young lady commonly known as Pet. Pet, these two men are Ray Arnold" he gestured to the black man before gesturing to the over weight man. "And Dennis Nedry." The latter man waved his sausage like fingers, the hybrid forcing a smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some paperwork to attend to." He turned his attention back on the hybrid. "Once you're done here, you should have security access to pretty much all sections of the island. I'm not exactly sure where Robert is, but I'm sure one of these two gentlemen can help you."

The hybrid dug her clawed hands into her short's front pockets. "Okay. First things first, then. What do I need to do for an ID card, or whatever?"


	18. Welcome to Paradise Isle

18** \- Welcome to Paradise Isle**

She hated it and snarled a frown at her ID card's picture. "It's official, I'm not a photogenic person..."

Mr. Arnold lightly laughed and reached into a drawer of his computer desk, retrieving a badge clip. "I don't really think the dinosaurs are going to care what you look like versus how you taste." Pet arched a brow at the man's attempt to be funny and huffed a soft toned shriek. He smirked. "Welcome to Paradise Isle, Pet."

She grumbled and trudged away back to the hallway, clipping her badge to the waste of her shorts. She remembered Hammond telling her the left way lead to the genetics lab and holding pens, Pet going there. The closer she got to the lab, the more she felt like she was back in Kenya as the familiar smells of 'science', as Jacobs called it, filled her sense of smell. She was curious, though, how many people working on the island knew about her every time she saw someone look at her strangely.

Pet paused at the top of the embryo admittance lab when she heard a very familiar voice echo the air. "What the hell is the matter with you?"

A woman's voice replied. "I'm sorry, I-"

Muldoon continued. "Shut up!" About that time, a juvenile Galamimus came bolting into view and run around the lab, dodging and weaving through the equipment. Scientists darted out of the way of the frantic, chest high dinosaur as the game warden continued. "Get out of the way, people!" He raised a tranquilizing rifle only to curse to himself and lower it, running after the dinosaur. "Open the door! Get her outside!" A man, huddled beside an egg warmer, scurried to the door and slammed down on a green button to activate the mechanical door opening. It took a couple of the scientists corralling around the Galamimus before it ran outside.

Meanwhile, Pet was running back down the hallway and to the complex's lobby as she fought with her boots to untie them. By the time she got to the double glass doors, she was barefoot and able to run faster. She could see the panicked dinosaur run around the courtyard, both it and the gate personnel unsure of what to do in response to the other. Pet ran down the stairs and towards the dinosaur, leaping into the air with a shrill.

From within the lab, Muldoon ran outside through the mechanical doors and raised his gun, preparing to fire when he heard it. Leaping into view was the one person he wasn't expecting and cocked a smile. Both Pet and the Galamimus tumbled to the ground, kicking up chunks of dirt in the process of wrestling around. The dinosaur cried out in desperation and kicked about, trying to escape the dominating hybrid, only to fail.

Seeing an open opportunity, Muldoon fired a tranquilizing dart at the helpless juvenile, commenting to his partner running up behind him. "And that, Cynthia, is how you restrain an animal."

The woman panted, "Sydney. My name is..." but the man was already out of ear shot range and jogging over to the dinosaur. "Sydney...But whatever." She heaved a breath and joined him.

Pet stayed poised over the young dinosaur, a clawed foot holding down the ankle of one leg with her other clawed toe curled around the calf muscle of the other leg as her clawed hand held down its wrists. Her other clawed hand was tightly gripped around it's snout as she leaned into her arm, using her weight to hold it down. Muldoon slung his gun over his shoulder and knelt down beside the hybrid, checking on the relaxing dinosaur.

"It's about bloody time you get here." Both friends locked gazes, the man continuing. "Given too much longer and Barbie Island Adventure, over there, would have gone missing." Pet chuckled and got off the dinosaur. Muldoon saw his partner approach him and held a hand in the air, as though expecting something to be handed to him. "Restraints."

Sydney's eyes widened. "Oh uh, I left them in the pens." She recoiled backwards a few steps in the heat of the man's glare, wiping her hands on her khaki pants.

"What? _Again!?_ How many times do I need to tell you-"

"Always be prepared for the job. Right. I'll go get them" and the woman quickly ran back inside the building.

Pet studied the man with a slightly amused smile and shook her head. The last time she saw him this way was when training an intern back in Kenya kept trying his patience. The intern, however, only lasted 2 weeks before requesting a reassignment elsewhere due to hostilities within the game warden job field. The hybrid snickered at the memory. "Seems like you've been having fun."

He scolded at the hybrid. "I'd rather work with Mr. Personality."

"No you wouldn't." Sydney returned to the two people and handed Muldoon leather booties and buckle restraints, her panting and leaning against her knees. He took another look in disbelief at the woman before tossing a pair of booties and restraints to Pet. "You know that bastard shot me with a tranquilizer? In the ass, no less!"

"I don't blame him. Hell I know I've been tempted to, myself, on more than one occasion."

Sydney couldn't take her eyes off the teenage girl and questioned. "You're her, aren't you? The raptor girl..."

Pet slid the leather booties over the clawed hands of the Galamimus, answering. "Last time I checked..." Once the booties were secured via the draw string ties, the hybrid began binding the wrists together with the restraints. "So where are we taking her?"

Muldoon responded while fastening the last of the buckles on the ankles. "I planned on feeding her to the baby Rex."

Pet heaved a sigh. "I mean the dinosaur."

"Oh." He stood up, ignoring the hateful glare he was getting from Sydney. "There's a truck and trailer parked around the other side. There's an herbivore containment site Hammond wants the smaller dinosaurs in for the time being." He unclipped a set of keys from around a belt loop and handed them to his partner. "Make yourself useful and bring the truck around." Sydney took the keys and heaved another breath before running off again.

The hybrid raised a brow at the other woman, watching her round the complex's corner. "Has it really been that bad?"

"She's about as worthless as Jacobs, in my opinion." And everyone knew how much he loathed the geneticist. "She's reckless, irresponsible, forgetful, weak and has no endurance. She can get a small scratch and make it seem like she's lost a damn arm!" He groaned in annoyance. "She feels its more important to paint her nails or fix her makeup versus tagging dinosaurs."

Pet giggled seeing the man's face turn red with growing fluster. "So Barbie Adventure, huh?" The man glared at the hybrid. "As Mr. Arnold told me, welcome to Paradise Isle!"

"Shoot me."


	19. Barbie Dorm Mate

19 **\- Barbie Dorm Mate**

When the evening came around, Pet collapsed on her bed in her dorm room and flexed her toes. She wrinkled her nose at the fresh paint smell lingering in the air as well as the new carpet smell. Her sense of smell was already more keen than that of a regular person's, so any prominent smells were only intensified. She grumbled and rolled over onto her stomach, burying her face in her pillow.

Since her arrival, she had been busy non stop with wrestling, chasing and tagging dinosaurs. It was a lot more work than what she imagined it would be, it being nothing like tagging zebra, catching snakes or wrestling the occasional escaped leopard or warthog. These were animals much more stronger and unpredictable. At least, for now, anyway. Pet was sure in due time, she'd adapt to the new work demands and things would gradually become easier. But until then, it was dealing with the stiff and sore muscles at the end of the day.

Dinner. It had to be close to dinner time as her stomach growled loudly in the quiet of the room. She looked to the digital clock by the bed and frowned. It blinked 1:32 AM, which she knew wasn't right. Would it really hurt people to set the time on the clocks once placed in the rooms? Her stomach growled again. She sat up from her laying down to look around for her duffle bag and backpack. She really didn't own that much, seeing how she wasn't a materialistic person. All she ever cared to own was the company of good friends as well as a place to at least call home.

Not far from the bed were her bags, Pet getting up. Not caring about neatness at that moment, she pulled almost everything out of backpack and tossed it onto the floor, soon finding the object of her desire. Happy, she went back to her bed and ripped open a bag of beef jerky. After the bag was completely devoured did Pet's hunger feel satisfied for the most part. She wanted to lay back down and relax her tense body, but knew she needed to unpack.

Unwillingly, she slid off the bed and started unpacking. The duffle bag kicked up a light layer of dust off the chest of drawers, Pet waving a hand in the air to shoo it out of her face. At least it wasn't like Kenya, where layers of dust were on everything, everywhere, no matter how often cleaned. Once unpacked, she sat back down on the bed, frowning at the lack of color there was in the room. At least in Kenya, there were African themed paintings and decorations in the room. Here, there was nothing. Just blank white walls, an empty computer desk, chest of drawers, a bed and nightstand.

She plopped back down onto the pillow, thinking how much like a prison cell her room was instead of a place of comfort and relaxation. At least she had a bathroom with doors, even if it was shared with someone else next door. About that time, a knock came at the joining kitchenette door.

Pet opened the door to see Sydney stare back at her, surprised. "Oh! So you're my new dorm mate." The woman's smile exceeded anything normal in the hybrid's opinion. "Excellent! Hopefully we can get to know each other!"

"Yeah! Wouldn't that be great?" The hybrid then shut the door in the other woman's face. "Just not right now."


	20. A 50,000 Act of Kindness

20 **\- A $50,000 Act of Kindness**

Had 2 years already passed by? Didn't seem like it. Seemed like it had only been maybe a handful of months, at most, to Pet. She was utterly bored and frowned, flicking a layer of peeled skin from her arm into her desk's trash can. Behind her, Jophrey shook his head. "Do you really have to do that, here?"

Muldoon glanced over to the hybrid, his chin resting in his hand. "Molting again, I see."

The hybrid snorted and balled up another skin flake in her fingers. "You'd think by now, after being here for as long as I have, I'd get used to the weather and the constant raining."

Jophrey shrugged. "Well, it is called a rain forest for a reason."

Pet continued peeling away at the discolored patch of skin on her arm. "Ugh..." A chime came from her computer, grabbing her attention away from her arm. "Hey look, an e-mail...and from Hammond? What the hell does he want?" A smile stretched across Muldoon's features from behind his hand. "Sorry for the late delivery, but happy 17th birthday." She clicked on the attachment, her tilting her head. "Why the hell did John send me a scanned copy of a business invoice?"

Jophrey lounged back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head. "No idea. Maybe you should read it and found out why."

She zoomed in on the image and read the contents under her breath. "Blah, blah, blah yeah, yeah, yeah $50,000 for a year to be paid to..." Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped in speechlessness. "This is a joke, right?" Pet's blue-green eyes broke away from the screen to rest on a now chuckling Muldoon. "John is funding Dr Grant's excavation? For _$50,000!?_ Why?"

Jophrey continued. "Why not?"

"Why not? I mean, what the hell does he have to offer Hammond or In-Gen? Why fund the dig?"

Muldoon rested his arm on his desk. "It's not so much as what the dig has to offer the company as it is the gesture of funding it for a special reason."

Pet cocked a smile of shock and felt her chest seize with a rush of emotion. In the past few years, it seemed Hammond was trying more and more to gain her trust and even though she had her moments of despising the man, there were times she wanted to hug him. And one of those moments was now. The surge of emotion began overflowing within the hybrid as pools of tears formed in her eyes.


	21. The Big One

21 - **The Big One**

Over the course of the next several months, teams were back and forth between the two islands for their respective reasons. For the game warden teams on the two islands, it was seeing to the safe transfer of small, medium and larger, adolescent animals. A large ferry was specially designed to allow the larger dinosaurs to be secured to the bow of the boat while several different sized pens lie below. In some species' cases, they were created on the primary island, seeing how the safety of their transporting couldn't be guaranteed or the species in general was too large for transport. Such species were the Tyrannosaur and Brachiosaurs.

Things seemed to be going well enough, given the delicacy of the situation. Anything could happen and because of, everyone stayed on high alert. None more so than Muldoon, it even driving Pet crazy at times, though she could understand why. He kept stressing the unpredictability of the animals, especially with the carnivorous species. Never could be too cautious, he frequently stated. His stress on caution was only further enforced when a startling event occurred, involving the raptors.

It was feeding time as the team shoved a large, animal containment crate into position to release a couple cows into the Velociraptor Valley paddock. Muldoon was standing nearby and watched the cows trample out of the crate and into the paddock after being prodded in the haunches with tazers. Once clear of the crate, Jophrey slammed the gate closed and latched it. Moments later, several juvenile raptors charged out of the overgrowth and attack the cows, their attack shrills piercing to the ears.

He held his rifle closer to his chest and counted under his breath. "One, two...three, four, five...There's the Big One, making that six..."

Pet flexed her clawed grip on her own rifle, studying the man with curiosity. "Something wrong?"

"Yeah...where's the other two raptors?" The two looked to each other in question, Pet shrugging. "Something's not right."

They soon learned why when flying over the enclosure with a helicopter to see the Big One challenging another smaller raptor. She had the smaller one pinned down, sickle claw dug into the abdomen of the other and jaws clamped around its throat. Not long afterwards, only four raptors were counted. Things went from grim to worse when the raptors began attacking the fences near the feeding team, Hammond not liking the news. It didn't take much to persuade him to quarantine the remaining four raptors in a small, electrified pen originally intended to be used to monitor sick or injured dinosaurs. And so, the preparations were made, no one expecting things to turn into a nightmare.


	22. The Isle Nublar Incident

22 - **The Isla Nublar Incident**

The tropical island night was hot and humid as it always was, no matter the time of year or hour of the day or night. The past few days were more muggy than usual seeing how it had been raining off and on due to spin off storms from a couple hurricanes in the area. The weather was only making the event of the night tricky to perform as one of the forklifts had become stuck in mud and a backup needed.

A gray and red painted Jeep sloshed through the mud and came to a halt not far from a concrete pen like structure with electrified cable fencing at the top. Pet got out of the driver's seat, raptor eyes reflecting the danger of the situation, as Muldoon grabbed the extra magazine from the center console. Pet's voice echoed over the stillness of the air. "¿Puede alguien decirme el estado de la entrega de paquetes, por favor? Someone, what is the status of the package? ETA?" There was silence. "Come on people, anyone?"

A man's voice called from the crowd as he stepped forward from where stood, it being a Hispanic man. "Hora estimada de llegada es de seis minutos, señorita."

She nodded in approval. "Gracias, Señor."

Muldoon strode over in the direction of the concrete structure and walked up the stairs. "Is everything ready for unloading?" His attention shot over to a Jophrey standing not too far away.

The man responded. "I double checked it twice. Its good." Muldoon looked to Pet who held a radio to her ear, her nodding to her closest friend. "Okay people get into position."

Pet translated for the Hispanic workers who didn't quiet understand English as they quickly hurried off to the side. Muldoon strode down the stairs followed by Jophrey, the joining the hybrid. Everyone in the clearing stood in tense silence, hearing the the sound of a heavy engine become louder.

Tree tops began to sway as a light shined through the trees and emerged into the clearing, a large metal crate riding on the forks of a bulldozer. A deafening shrill rang out from the crate, the smell of fear sweating from almost everyone standing nearby. The crate jostled around on the forks of the heavy machinery as it was slid onto the concrete block for unloading.

Muldoon stood motionless and loudly called out, "Alright now, pushers move in. Loading team move it." The teams did as ordered as the sudden movement of the people coming at the crate caused the creature within to growl again. The people paused in their tracks in uncertainty of getting any closer to the crate. "Alright, steady. Get back in there now, push." The team still didn't more. "Get back in there! Don't let her know you're afraid!"

Pet narrowed her eyes and watch the team finally move back in. Nervously, they lined themselves up along the sides of the crate, being careful where they placed their hands in conjunction to the crate's holes in the walls. The hybrid barked, "On the count of three…" She saw the team brace themselves in preparation. "One…Two…Three!" The crate was forcefully heaved into position and locked into place as the positive connection lock light flashed green.

Muldoon sighed a breath of relief. "Well locked, loading team. Step away. Jophrey, raise the gate." The man did as ordered as a spotlight panned to where the man crawled up a small ladder and onto the crate.

His mind was racing with fear and he made his way to where the gate was, wiping his sweaty palms on his blue coveralls. Finally getting into position, he grabbed the gate and slowly started to lift it when the creature within the crate roared a deafening screech. The raptor slammed into the side of the enclosure, causing the gate handle fly out of Jophrey's hands and the man to loose his balance. To the ground he fell, landing rather hard and bumping his head on the ground. The emergency alarm went off, signifying the crate was no longer locked in place as a pair of fearsome claws emerged from within the metal container.

A painful cry of pain came from the man, Pet rushing to his aide. "Jophrey!"

Muldoon followed and ordered to the others nearby, "Tasers get in there, damn it!" The armed team that stood not far away on standby were already at the crate, jabbing their taser guns through the slats and striking the raptor within. It did no good to the creature within which was already ravenous with hunger for the taste of blood. "Shoot her!"

Pet desperately tried to fight the creature's deadly grip on the man, her meeting the same golden yellow beady gaze she saw in the mirror more often then not. "Jophrey!" She could see the Velociraptor's clawed hands dug deep in her screaming's friend's legs as the raptor's sharp toothed jaws tore away at his abdomen. Jophrey desperately clutched onto Pet and Muldoon's hands, but his grasp was getting weak.

They could feel him be pulled from their grasp, Muldoon bellowing once more, "Shoot her!"

The hybrid then glanced over her shoulder to see her rifle laying on the ground as she released Jophrey and grabbed at the gun. Her releasing the man caused him to be pulled into the crate a little more and the raptor's teeth clamped around his thighs. A small trail of blood started to flow from the opening of the crate, the hybrid knowing what she had to do. She choked back a cry and aimed the rifle at Jophrey, knowing it was for the best. With the pull of the trigger, she shot the man to get him out of his misery, his grasp going limp. The raptor tugged harshly at the man's torso, causing the body of Jophrey to be pulled away into the crate and out of Muldoon's grasp.

Pet stood absolutely motionless as she saw the blood flow thicker and faster from the crate, Muldoon grabbing the rifle from the girl. He shoved her harshly to the ground and started shooting into the crate only to stop when she drug him away. Not wanting anyone else to fall victim to the raptor, the loading team quickly shoved the crate back into place. A moment later, the gate was open and the raptor inside the quarantine pen, the gate closing.

Muldoon slammed the hybrid against the crate, yelling. "Why the fuck did you shoot him?" She tried to answer, but couldn't. Not with the sick feeling rising in her throat. The air was quiet once more as no one dared breathe or talk. Again Muldoon lashed out in rage, "Damn it to hell Pet can't you do anything right? I could've saved him!"

She fought back her own animal within her, urging her to physically attack back in defense. "No you couldn't! None of us could've done anything to save him, Robert, and you know that. He was already dead." She snorted and blinked back tears. "It was an act of humanity." Muldoon threw his rifle, empty of rounds, into the growth and darkness of the trees and brushy nearby. "I figured of all people who would have understood that!" The workers slowly backed away from Muldoon and Pet, them still in shock over what just happened. The game warden knew she was right and angrily strode away towards the observation tower. Pet glanced around at those looking to her for guidance on what to do next, her speaking up. "Ok people…" She looked to the bloody streaks coming from the crate now and choked out, "We still have a job to do. It may be different now, but we still have a job." She jumped off the concrete loading platform. "Move this thing out of the way so I can retrieve the dead."

She walked over to the Jeep and took the car cover out of the backend, breaking the elastic ties with her clawed hands. The hybrid disappeared into the darkness of the crate as the workers removed their hats in respect for the deceased. Pet could see the remains of the man and felt sick at the sight. Even if he was rescued from the raptor's grasp he still would have died due to severe injuries. His lower abdomen was shredded, revealing his bodily organs as chunks of meat were missing from his legs. She knelt down and placed her clawed hand onto the man's forehead and slid it down his face to close his eyes. Pet choked out a sob and unrolled the Jeep's cover tarp beside the corpse of the man. She carefully then placed the body onto the tarp and wrapped it around him to cover his mangled remains out of respect. The hybrid squeezed her eyes shut and sobbed, tears falling from her eyes and onto the tarp. She wasn't sure how long she knelt there, crying the hardest she felt she ever had, when a hand gently squeezed her shoulder.

Muldoon's voice was a hoarse whisper. "What you did was right. You saved him from going through more pain. I'm sorry."

Pet's breathing was labored behind sobs. "He didn't deserve this." The hybrid gently kissed the tarp that rested over the man's forehead. "Rest in peace, my friend. May the angels guide you home."

Not needing to be told, Muldoon grabbed the feet of the wrapped body and helped Pet carry it outside. The workers parted to allow the two to carry the body to a nearby truck, three of the men assisting them in loading the corpse into the bed. One of the loading team members, appearing much younger than the rest, looked down at the ground to see bloody foot prints reflect the light from the over head spot lights. The driver of the truck met gazes with Muldoon, the game warden nodding as the driver got into the truck and slowly drove off with the two wardens in the tail bed.

Pet lightly whispered. "So what happens now?"

Muldoon didn't immediately respond, but instead, shook his head. He blinked back his own tears and wiped at his eyes on his sleeve. "Its out of our hands."

When the truck arrived at the visitor center, Pet got out and went inside, leaving a saddened and quiet Muldoon in the dark. The hybrid made her way to the control room and went inside where Arnold and Nedry sat. They saw the blood splattered Pet and fell quiet, horror washing over them. She made her way to a phone on the corner of one of the Arnold's desk and took it into her blood soaked hands. The black man, peered at her behind glasses, but didn't say anything as she started dialing a number.

A few rings later there was an answer, it being Hammond. "Hello?"

Pet took in a deep breath, it shaky. "Notify the family of Jophrey Haughton that he will not be coming home." The hybrid choked back another sob and slammed a clawed, bloody hand onto the desk.

Hammond wanted to yell out in anger but couldn't. He knew for a certain fact Pet and Muldoon did the best they could to prevent such an accident from occurring, especially to someone so close to them. "What should I tell the family, then?"

Pet gathered her words in her head. "Tell them he died strong and brave...fighting till the end."

He nodded. "Very well. I'll be there in the morning. When I arrive I want a full explanation of exactly that happened and why the hell a good man died tonight!"

Pet nodded her head in understanding and hung up the phone, standing in silence. The hybrid tightly balled her fists and shrilled out in anger, startling the two men. Nedry almost fell out of his seat when he shot to his feet, knocking over a soda onto the floor. Snorting a bark, the hybrid walked out of the room. Nedry watched as the quiet teen leave the room, his gaze following her through the window. Arnold, however, couldn't remove his stare from the bloody handprint on his desk and the blood on his phone. Both men then looked to each other in fear and shock, not knowing what to say, think or do at that moment.

Meanwhile, Muldoon still sat in the tail bed as Pet saw him place the tarp back over the body upon her exiting the visitor center. She leaned against the side of the truck next to where her close friend sat, speaking softly. "Hammond is notifying the family. I asked that he tell them Jophrey died strong and brave." Muldoon nodded in approval and wiped his nose. "He's going to be here in the morning." They locked gazes as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, her wrapping her arms around his waist. Jophrey was their 2nd closest best friend and now, he was gone. He held Pet tightly to him as he feared him loosing her next to the damnation of the island's titan's.


	23. Breaking Point

23 - **Breaking Point**

In the days following the tragedy known as the Isla Nublar Incident, e-mails kept crowding inboxes and pile of paperwork kept stacking up, all wanting to know the details of what happened. It didn't help the family was pressing a $20 million lawsuit against In-Gen.

Muldoon sat, unmoving and unblinking, his stare focused on the empty desk where Jophrey used to sit. Behind him was Pet, her frowning at how distant her best friend had become. Usually he came to her to talk and vent out pent up stress, but not this time. She wasn't sure if it was because of pride or because of how deep the wound was cut and how fresh it was. Either way, he was distant and different now than how he used to be. Before, he had a slight admiration and respect for the animals, but not now. He hated them; every one of the dinosaurs on the island. Didn't matter the species, either.

The raptors he hated the most of, though, which made Pet wonder. Was that why he was so distant from her? His hate for raptors extending to her own partial bloodline to them? The thought of burned her chest and she further frowned, lowering her head in sadness. With everything they had been through, he knew her better and yet he still compared her to the other raptors. At least, she thought, anyway.

She signed and continued typing an e-mail to Hammond, explaining everything that had happened. She felt like she was lying though, even though she wasn't. After explaining her side of the story to Hammond in person, she was urged to not mention her firing the mercy shot. The family would be reviewing the reports and the last thing Hammond wanted was for Pet to fall under scrutiny. He was too busy trying to protect her from the world and from In-Gen for that matter.

After finishing in her typing, she printed out a copy of the message and stashed it inside a folder to be filed. Still, Muldoon didn't move, which Pet knew wasn't a good thing. Anytime the man was still and eerily calm, it was best advisable to stay away from him. The hybrid got up and went over to the filing cabinets behind where Jophrey's desk was and unlocked it to file the papers. Acid laced blue eyes fell on the clawed feet and the game warden clenched his teeth in disgust. He would never look at her the same way anymore as he hated everything raptor about her.

Pet calmly closed the filing cabinet drawer only to turn around and see the man's gaze locked intently on her sickle claws. She could read his every thought in his eyes and went over to him, leaning against the arm rests to better stare him in the eye. She growled. "Hate me if you will, but I am _not_ like them out there in the pen. Comparing me to them only makes you as bad as In-Gen." 

Wrong thing to say. A strong hand grabbed at the hybrid's throat as another grabbed and twisted one of her arms behind her. Before she could react, she was harshly shoved and pinned to a wall, Muldoon growling in her ear. "I would advise you keep your distance from me."

Pet snorted a bark in aggression and tried to bring her legs around his waste to push him off of her, but he knew better. He had her pinned and completely unable to react. She choked for air and snorted, digging her claws into his hand around her throat. Their gazes locked, him only seeing the familiar raptor ones resembling the ones of the monster that attacked Jophrey. Pet snorted again and choked for air, her vision starting to blur. Muldoon saw this as the girl's eyes turned blue green and melt from anger to sadness, tears streaking down her cheeks and onto his hand.

Reality hit the man and hard, him releasing the hybrid with a shaking hand. What was he doing? Pet stumbled to the floor, coughing and wheezing for air, unable to look at the man sitting heavily back in his chair. He buried his face in his hands and cursed to himself. She had never seen the man this way and for the first time, she was afraid of him. The two sat in silence for several minutes, recomposing themselves before meeting gazes with the other.

His tear swollen eyes sunk sadly when he saw the red mark standing out in contrast against her collar necklace. He had never, in the entire years of taking care of her, hurt her intentionally the way he just had. Muldoon slid out of his chair and knelt beside the hybrid, drawing her in for a hug. "I'm sorry, Pet. I didn't-"

"I know" she hoarsely replied and embraced him back. "We all have our breaking points."


	24. Attention Park Personnel

24** \- Attention Park Personnel...**

"Attention park personnel, In-Gen will be conducting a thorough, on site safety evaluation of the park, blah, blah, blah..." Muldoon tossed an almost splintered toothpick in a nearby trashcan, mumbling, "Go fuck yourselves."

Pet paused upon entering the warden office, arms full of papers, when she heard the man and huffed a laugh. "You first."

The man intently read on, leaning ever closer to the computer screen and squinting his eyes. Pet was curious to know what he was reading and leaned in to read the e-mail over his shoulder. "Oh goodie...an inspection team is coming." She went over to the filing cabinet and began shoving papers into their appropriate folders. "Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the 'Fancy Suit Brigade'?"

"That's not all you're going to have to deal with." He gestured to the hybrid by waving his fingers in the air. She set the papers down on the file cabinet and joined him to continue reading. "Look right here..."

Taking in a deep breath, she began to read out loud. "The evaluation team will consist of science doctors, specializing in the knowledge pertaining to the possible dangers on Jurassic Park..." she read on in a barely audible whisper, "_Dr. Alan Grant?_" Pet brought a hand to her mouth in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me. What the hell is John thinking? Is it not bad enough a park employee was killed that we have to involve _outsiders_?"

Muldoon stared at the hybrid in disbelief. This wasn't the reaction he was expecting, but understood her concern. He felt the same way and was tempted to call Hammond himself to object. "Apparently In-Gen is in full support of his proposal and urging him to quickly act on it."

Pet leaned against his desk and shook her head. "Of all the dumb ass things to do..."

"Look at it his way...at least you'll get to meet him in person." The hybrid shot the man a sideways stare with raptor eyes. "But then again, that might not be such a good idea." Pet narrowed her eyes on the man even more. "I don't know which would be worse: being attacked by a pack of raptors or by one raptor half breed, fan girl." Pet snorted and hit the man in the shoulder and went back to the cabinet to resume working. "According to this, they're going to be here in 3 days." The hybrid went rigid in panic, wide eyes reflecting her racing thoughts. "I'm sure you're already counting down the days and minutes, too." He wheeled around to face the girl only to find her gone. "Or not." He got up and peered out into the hallway. "Pet?"


	25. An Esteemed Visitor

**Starting from here and throughout the following chapters taking place during the Jurassic Park movies, I integrate my character I created, Pet, as though a part of the events taking place.**

* * *

25** \- An Esteemed Visitor**

In Montana...

A strong wind from the rotating blades of a descending helicopter kicked up loose dirt, people scrambling to cover an excavation and research equipment with protective blankets and tarps. One of the people, a man in his mid thirties, called out, "Cover up the site!" A woman in her late twenties with blond hair joined the others, grabbing buckets of dirt and rocks to set on the edges of the blankets to hold them down. The man, Dr Grant, rushed to where the helicopter had now landed and waved his hands for the pilot to cut the engine. The pilot, in return, pointed at a nearby trailer as though telling him to go inside. Getting the message, the paleontologist did so and bust in through the door, further angered when he saw someone rummaging around in the fridge. "What the hell do you think you're doing in here?" Hammond stood up and spun around to face the man, a bottle of champagne in his hands as he popped the cork. Grant ducked down, half expecting to get hit by the ricocheting cork and yelled, "Hey, we were saving that!"

The older man, clad in his usual white, answered in an ear to ear smile. "For today...I guarantee it!"

Grant was pissed and neared man, jabbing a limestone covered finger into the his chest. "And who in God's name do you think you are?"

Hammond took one good head to toe look at the man, noticing it wasn't just his finger covered in limestone, but all of him. And this was who Pet was all worked up over? The In-Gen founder mentally face-palmed at the hybrid's expense. But still, he kept his rather eager and excited smile stamped on his face. "John Hammond." He took the shocked man's finger in his pristine clean hand and shook it, blowing off the dust from his palm. "And I am delighted to finally meet you in person, Dr. Grant." The lively man looked around the trailer, rather disappointed at the lack of organization, and continued. "I can see my...fifty thousand a year as been well spent." He started nosing around through the cabinets, hoping to find something, anything clean to pour the champagne in.

About that time, the trailer door swung open again, this time revealing the blonde woman now extremely pissed. "Okay, who's the jerk?"

Before the woman could say anything more, Grant had her by the sleeve of her shirt, cutting her off and stating to Hammond, "Uh, this is our paleonbotanist, Dr ..." Did he really just forget her name?

The woman continued for the man. "Sattler."

"Dr. Sattler." He glanced back at the woman, a nervous smile evident beneath the layers of limestone dust caked on his face. "Ellie, this is Mr. Hammond. _John_ Hammond."

The woman's jaw dropped and she stammered. "D-Did I say jerk?" Her face flared up in embarrassment.

Hammond took Ellie's much smaller hand in his and shook it. "I'm sorry for the dramatic entrance, but I'm in a hurry." He gestured to the bottle he held in his hand. "We won't let it get warm. Sit down." She was still in shock and still trying to get her mouth to form comprehensible words as she scurried after the older man going to the sink. "I'll just get a glass or two." He noticed the frantic woman attempting to help him, which he appreciated, but shooed her away. "No, no, no, no, no. I can handle it. I know my way around a kitchen." Feeling more in the way than anything, Ellie went to join the other scientist seated behind a table. Hammond picked up a hand towel and began drying off a glass he had just rinsed out. "Now, I'll get right to the point." He turned to face the two wide eyed and bewildered people, stating, "I like you. The both of you" to which the two stared in awe at each other. Hammond started rinsing out another glass, hoping whatever it was he just poured down the drain wasn't something important. "I can tell instantly about people. It's a gift." When he faced the scientists again, he laughed in his mind. They looked so lost, confused and excited at the same time. "I own an island off the coast of Costa Rica. I've leased it from the government and during the last five years, I've been setting up a biological preserve. Really spectacular. Spared no expense. Makes the one I've got down in Kenya look like a petting zoo." Hammond swished the rag in the second glass, continuing. "And there's no doubt our attractions will drive kids out of their minds."

Grant questioned, "What are those?"

Ellie leaned over, answering in a whisper in his ear. "Small versions of adults, honey." The man gave the woman a disapproving stare and shook his head, refocusing back on their esteemed visitor.

Hammond continued, not listening to the two behind him as he poured the glasses of champagne. "We're going to open next year, if the lawyers don't kill me first." He tilted his head to the side, frowning. "I don't care for lawyers, do you?"

What the hell kind of question was that? And why was this man so talkative and excited about, anyway? Both scientists shook their heads. "We don't really know any."

"Oh, well I do. There's a particular pebble in my shoe who represents my investors. Says they insist on outside opinions."

Ellie interrupted, questioning. "What kind of opinions?"

A sly smile wiggled beneath Hammond's bearded his face. "Well, your kind, not to put too fine a point on it." Grant sat more upright, further intrigued on what the man was saying. "Let's face it, in your particular fields, you're the top minds and if I could just persuade you to sign off on the park, give it your endorsement, maybe even pen a wee testimonial, I could get on schedule."

This was making no sense to the woman and Ellie shook her head, confused. "Why would they care what we think?"

Grant cut in. "What kind of park is this?"

The sly smile grew bigger on Hammond's face and handed the couple the glasses of champagne. "It's right up your alley." His blue eyes danced with excitement in the sun shining in through a nearby window. "Why don't you come down, just the pair of you, for the weekend? I'd love to have an opinion of a paleonbotanist as well." He hoisted himself up to sit on the kitchen countertop. "I've got a jet standing by at Choteau."

Grant slowly rose to his feet, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. This isn't possible. We just dug up a new skeleton-"

Hammond cut the man off in mid sentence as he poured himself a glass of the champagne as well. "I could compensate you by fully funding your dig for a further three years."

Grant looked to Ellie in question, as though asking for her answer before making his own decision. She nodded her head and questioned, "Where's the plane?"

The white clad man broadly smiled, "Yeah?"

Both people nodded and answered. "Yeah." The two scientists tightly embraced the other in excitement, cheering at their stroke of good fortune.


	26. Unlike Anything Ever Seen Before

**26 - Unlike Anything Ever Seen Before**

Muldoon grabbed his radio off his belt and called over, his blue eyes peering into the raptor quarantine pen. "Pet, where the hell are you?" He hadn't seen her since the evening before, it now being mid morning.

A minute later, the hybrid replied. "In the office. Where are you?"

The game warden mouthed something to himself under his breath. "Get your ass to the quarantine pens. It's getting close to feeding time."

"On my way."

"And make sure to wear your shoes. We're having visitors today." The game warden could almost mentally picture the exact sour expression on the hybrid's face.

Her eyes rested on the pair of custom made, brown leather boots and snorted. "I'll be there in a minute..." Pet forcefully clipped her radio to the waist of her shorts and grumbled in displeasure as she put her socks and shoes on.

Once outside, she held onto her radio as she sprinted down the dirt path leading from the back of the main complex and to the quarantine pen. She could hear the anxious raptors' screeching from within the electrified enclosure and ran up the stairs to the viewing platform where Muldoon waited. He opened his mouth to say something to the hybrid, but paused, arching a brow in question. Was she wearing makeup? Around her blue-green eyes was a smoky colored eye shadow, her eye lids defined by eye liner and mascara. She even was wearing a rose colored lip gloss, from what the man could tell, too.

"What the hell did you do to your face?" He had never seen her look like this before and was thrown off by it.

Pet didn't visually acknowledge the man and cleared her throat. "It's called make up."

"I know what the hell it is..." He had to admit though, the hybrid looked very nice and more feminine. "Don't go turning all girly on me. I need you to stay with me, on this, okay?"

Pet rolled her eyes over to the man, snorting. "Piss off."

"I'm warning you..." He pointed a finger at her face. "You start complaining of broken finger nails next, I'm throwing you in there with the Big One."

She called out to the man from over another series of raptor screeches as he strode down the stairs and to the watch tower. "Good thing I don't have finger nails, then, huh?" She snickered and flexed her clawed fingers against the metal railing.

"Smart ass." Muldoon went inside the tower and peered outside the window just level with the top of the pen. He radioed over. "Keep an eye on the steer, will you?" She gave a thumb's up to the man, him calling out next, "Feeding team, proceed."

Pet turned her back to the tower and looked to a nearby crane, hoisting a black cow in a harness into the air. Behind her and emerging from the overgrowth surrounding the quarantine pen were the park visitors, Dr Grant's attention locked onto the cow in the harness. Behind him came Hammond, calling out, "Dr Grant! As I was saying, we laid on lunch for you before you got into the park." The older man's gaze instantly fell on Pet and stopped in his tracks, gaze falling to her feet. At least she had her shoes on, as he urged her to wear before arriving back. And where the hell was Muldoon?

Grant neared the pen, questioning. "What are they doing?"

Hammond chuckled out, "Feeding them."

Pet could hear voices nearby and turned to see who it was, her eyes widening in a rush of excitement. Muldoon could see the now distracted hybrid and called to her over the radio. From on top of the tower, one of the three men stiffened back a laugh and shook his head, responding back to the calling man, "You might want to get out here and get your girl before she makes a fool of herself."

Muldoon's face wrinkled in confusion. "What?"

Meanwhile, Grant proceeded up the stairs to the viewing platform, eyes never leaving the cow as he strode to the other side of the hybrid to stand next to her, oblivious to her gawking of him. And it was probably a good thing too, because Pet's wide raptor eyes and gaping jaw exposing carnivorous teeth would have done more than startle the man. She quickly composed herself, however, when she saw Hammond nearby. She quickly but nonchalantly looked away and squeezed her eyes shut, digging her hands into the back pockets of her tan shorts.

Grant watched the top of the fence slide open, allowing the cow to be lowered into the brush. Once he was close enough to the edge and positioned just right, Muldoon was able to see the man. The game warden grumbled. "Damn it to hell." He looked to another man next to him and nodded. "Take over the controls, will you?" The other man nodded, Muldoon leaving the tower.

The cow continued to moo, unaware of what was going to happen next unlike the spectators nearby. Once completely lowered in the pen and out of site of the others, the plants violently shook as snarls and growls came from within. A high pitched attack shrill tore through the air, it not loud enough, though, to mask the sounds of flesh be torn from the screaming cow.

Pet's attention darted to the inside of the pen and she smiled, her face contorting into one of viciousness. She could smell the scent of fresh blood fill the air and she almost let the animal in her overcome her, but she refrained. Instead, she brought her gaze to focus on the man next to her, his stare still locked on the pen. There was a glow of boyish excitement on his face and it danced in his eyes. The others of the group, however, weren't too fascinated by the scene. A woman, Pet could identify as Dr Ellie Sattler, appeared rather repulsed and on the verge of being sick while another man, clad in black, grabbed at his stomach in discomfort.

Pansies. Pet had managed to get her eyes to return to a blue green, despite the extreme difficulty she was having at keeping them that way, and met Hammond's mischievous sneer. Muldoon strode up the stairs, calling, "They should all be destroyed."

Everyone's attention shifted to the newcomer, his gaze locked on Pet, fearful of her careless exposure around the others. He ran through a mental check list in his head. Eyes normal? Check. Shoes? Double check. Hands? Tucked away, out of sight in her back pockets. Good. Only thing that seemed out of place were her arms and legs. If anything, could always say it was an unbalanced tan.

Hammond announced, gesturing for the other man to join them. "Robert Muldoon. My game warden from Kenya. Bit of an alarmist, but knows more about raptors than anyone."

Grant made a be-line for the man, hoping to get answers to the many questions he had building in his head. Pet, too, strode towards him as she wasn't too fond of standing next to the lawyer, her taking a place next to Grant and across from Hammond. The scientist questioned. "What kind of metabolism do they have? What's their growth rate?"

Time for twenty questions. Muldoon had a feeling it was going to happen, especially after Hammond announcing him being the most knowledgeable on the creatures. "They're lethal at eight months, and I do mean lethal." His gaze shifted over to Pet, him not surprised to find her almost drooling over the paleontologist. "I've hunted most things that can hunt you, but the way these move..." He peered into the pen.

Grant continued to bombard the man with questions. "Fast for a biped?"

The warden nodded. "Cheetah speed. Fifty, sixty miles per hour if they ever got out in the open."

Pet cut in, not meaning to be rude. "And those are speeds clocked on the adults. Juvenile speeds vary anywhere from 30 to 40 miles per hour."

Grant glanced to his right to see the girl. "And you are?"

Hammond forced a smile and answered for the hybrid. "She's an intern, here at the park who I'm sure has somewhere else to be." The people's gazes locked, Pet slimming her eyes on the white clad man. She had no intentions of gong anywhere and made it known as she leaned against the railing.

Muldoon continued. "They're astonishing jumpers, too."

Hammond could see the concern growing on the visitors' faces and quickly turned his attention away from Pet, hoping to ease the worries. "Yes, yes, yes, that's why we're taking extreme precautions."

The hybrid turned her attention back to Muldoon, who smiled at his distraction working. Grant continued, his attention bouncing between the 'intern' and the game warden for a hopeful answer. "Do they show intelligence? Was their brain cavity-"

"They show extreme intelligence" Muldoon interrupted. "Even problem-solving intelligence."

Pet continued. "Most likely smarter than most other intelligent animals out there, like dolphins."

The game warden nodded in agreement. "Especially the Big One." Grant tilted his head to the side, curious. "We bred eight, originally, but when she came in she took over the pride and killed all but two of the others." Hammond and Ellie stopped conversing to hear what the warden had to say, the man continuing. "That one, when she looks at you, you can see she's working things out." The air seemed to linger with a haunting silence as there were no birds or crickets chirping. Even the raptor pen had gone completely quiet, Pet leaning forward to peer inside it. "That's why we have to feed them like this. She had them all attacking the fences when the feeders came."

Ellie spoke up next. "But the fences are electrified, right?"

Pet nodded as Muldoon pressed on in his explanation. "That's right, but they never attack the same place twice. They were testing the fences for weaknesses, systematically." Muldoon smiled and arched his brow. "They remember."

Pet grabbed at the radio clipped to her waste, stating over it, "Alright, raise the crane."

Malcolm's dark eyes fell on the girl's hands, them widening at what he saw. He wasn't exactly sure what he was seeing, but knew it couldn't be normal. The girl's fingernails almost looked like claws as he brought a hand to his face to rub his tense mouth. What the hell was going on, here?

Her blue-green eyes met the chocolate brown ones of the chaotician standing almost across from her and knew immediately what he was staring at. A sly smile crept over her features, for she knew the man's history after researching about him. The crane came back to life and slowly raised the now blood stained and shredded harness from the enclosure. Pet re-clipped the radio to her shorts, stating, "Excuse me, gentlemen." She nodded to Ellie. "Ma'am. Work calls." She gave a final look to the man dressed in black and cocked a sideways smile, her eyes shifting into a raptor's.

Malcolm stood up straighter in disbelief and opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Hammond loudly asking, "Who's hungry?"


	27. Steak, It's What's For Dinner

27** \- Steak...It's What's For Lunch**

"I saw what you did, earlier, by the way." Muldoon stated while glancing over his shoulder at Pet. The two were on their way to the kitchen via the employee's only door.

"I have no idea what you're talking about" she replied, smiling mischievously. She could hear the slide show playing in the conference room nearby and though tempted to crash Hammond's little party, continued to the kitchen instead.

"You're not even supposed to be seen by the public, as was In-Gen's orders. I'm already certain John will have a thing or two to say about it when he gets the chance." The two strode down the hallway and to where the kitchen door was, the smells of freshly cooked lunch wafting through the air.

Pet scoffed and opened the steel kitchen door, going inside. Her gazes locked with one of the chefs, Alejandro, him speaking. "Ah there you are! I was wondering when I'd be seeing you, today." The stocky man, wearing a black apron with the park's logo on the front, went to a nearby fridge and opened the door. He then got out a saran wrapped plate and on it, a raw 8 oz sirloin cut steak. "And I'm guessing this is what you're after?"

Pet's eyes were back to being a raptor's and she nodded, eagerly following the chef to a hot stove. "Oh yeah..." The chef could feel her warm breath against his neck and it slightly unnerved him. "Do what you did to the other one, last time. That was _really_ good!"

Muldoon grabbed the hybrid by the arm and drug her away from the slightly recoiling man. "Give the man some room, for crying out loud." Pet whimpered, eyes still on the steak as it slid off the plate and into seasoned skillet. "People are going to think I don't feed you." He watched the girl next to him become anxious and knew she had been fighting a growing blood crave since the raptors were fed. It happened almost all the time, and none of which did she actually stick around long enough for the harness to be removed. By that time, she was usually running to the kitchen for a raw steak. The game warden leaned in closer to the heavily breathing hybrid. "I am proud of you, by the way and how you handled yourself at the quarantine pen." Raptor eyes peeled away from the skillet and to the soft blue gaze next to her. "You're getting better at controlling yourself." He stood up straighter and crossed his arms over his chest. "Made me $20, too."

"What?" Pet sounded slightly irritated. "People were making bets?"

"Just a couple of us. They didn't think you would be able to restrain yourself. Made $10 off you staying controlled and another $10 for you managing to keep your claws off Dr. Grant." He shot her a playful smile.

"You git."

Their conversation was broken when Alejandro approached them, handing Pet the plate with the mostly raw steak on it. "My lady?"

The hybrid squealed in excitement and took the plate, not bothering to use a fork or a knife as she picked up the steak to eat it. Muldoon shook his head and dug into his pocket, pulling out one of the $5 bills and handing it to the chef. "Damn it, Pet. Would it hurt you to use silverware for once?" The chef laughed and strode away, sticking the money in his pocket.

A few minutes later, the two were heading back out into the central lobby when they were stopped by Sydney. She handed Muldoon a piece of paper with a weather report printed on it.


	28. And So It Begins

28** \- And So It Begins**

The visitors were on their way, now, starting the tour of the island. Hammond was coming back inside when he saw Muldoon and Pet going up the stairs. He called out, "Excellent. I was just about to come find you, Robert."

The three people made their way to the control room, Muldoon skimming the text on the page. "National Weather Service is tracking a tropical storm about 75 miles west of us."

He and Pet went to a computer to see a visualization of the storm for themselves, Hammond mumbling. "Why didn't I build in Orlando?" 

Pet rested a clawed hand on a hip, questioning. "As in...Florida?" She looked to Arnold nearby and titled her head to the side. "Aren't they constantly getting hit with tropical storms and hurricanes?"

"I'll keep on eye on it" Muldoon cut in. "Maybe it'll swing south like the last one."

"Or plow right over us like the one before it." Eyes fell on the hybrid, who was digging at her teeth with a clawed hand. "Damn steak..."

Hammond shook his head with growing irritation at the young woman and he sighed. "Ray..." he placed a hand on the black man's shoulder. "Start the tour program."

Pet watched the man type in the code, her exclaiming. "And so it begins."

Arnold wheeled his chair from one computer and to another, starting the tour. "Hold onto your butts."

Multiple computer screens came to life, them displaying different things. One displayed a map of the island zooming in to show the location of the tour vehicles while another displayed video feed from a security camera. Hammond's grandkids could be heard happily chatting from within one of the vehicles while Malcolm was heard in another, starting, "God help us, we're in the hands of engineers."

Pet laughed and nudged Arnold in the sides, the man shaking his head. "No respect."

Hammond brought up one of the interior monitors from within a vehicle, him seeing his grandkids bouncing around from window to window in the backseat. He chuckled and waved his hand in the air. "Get me a headset. Someone, anyone."

Arnold reached behind one of the monitors and retrieved a headset, handing it to the requesting man. Pet stood on the other side of the man and glanced over his shoulder. "Where's the one with Grant in it?"

Muldoon rolled up the weather report in his hand and smacked Pet upside the head with it, her snorting and glaring at the man. The camera feed changed to show the other vehicle, Pet rolling her attention to it. Hammond put the headset on and shifted the camera back to his grandkids, speaking, "The voice you're now hearing is Richard Kiley." He laughed again. "We spared no expense."

The audio guided tour began as the onlookers in the control room crossed their fingers in hopes of everything going smoothly.


	29. The Sick Trike, No Shows and Door Locks

**29 - The Sick Trike, The No Shows and the Door Locks**

Arnold lit up a cigarette, anticipating a long day judging by the way things were going so far. In the background, Hammond ranted, "Of course the Dilophosaurus wouldn't make an appearance. That would be too convenient, wouldn't it?" Pet and Muldoon exchanged stares, hating it when the older man got in a mood like this. "And what happens when the park opens and people are paying money to see these things? Only, they don't?!" He slammed his cane on the ground and continued to complain to himself.

Arnold leaned in closer to the screen, tapping a pencil on the screen. "The headlights are on and they shouldn't be. Those shouldn't be running off of car batteries." He tossed the pencil to the side and rested his head on his propped up arm. "Item 151 on today's glitch list." Pet rolled her eyes and allowed her head to fall back in the chair she was seated in next to the engineer. "We have all the problems of a major theme park and major zoo and the computers aren't even on their feet yet."

Pet spoke next. "Maybe the bugs will work themselves out of the system once the computers are up and fully running."

Hammond's scowl slowly sailed across the room to where Nedry sat. "Dennis, our lives are in your hands and you have butterfingers?"

A smartass laugher erupted from the man and he wheeled around in his chair to face his employer. "I am totally unappreciated in my time."

Pet sat up and leaned forward from where she sat, glaring at the man seated at his workstation. "Not this again" the hybrid mumbled and buried her face in her clawed hands.

Arnold huffed. "Just be thankful you don't have to work with him all the damn time."

She continued. "We can always shove him in the harness and feed him to the raptors." That brought a laugh from the man, Pet smiling.

The black man shook his head, still frustrated, however, at the vehicle lights. "Dennis...The headlights."

"I'll debug the tour program when they get back, okay?" The answer wasn't good enough for Arnold, him drumming his fingers on his desk. "Okay? It'll eat a lot of compute cycles. We'll lose part of the system."

The black man wheeled back to his computer, blanking out the rest of what his co-worker had to say. He really couldn't stand that man and mentally imagined the overweight man be lowered into the raptor pen. The thought brought a devious smile to his lips, wrapped around a cigarette.

"Quiet!" Muldoon bellowed. "All of you!" The room got quiet as all eyes focused to the man. "They're approaching the Tyrannosaur paddock."

Pet nudged a flustered face Hammond in the side. "Here we go. Maybe the Rex will make a nice appearance for the tourists."

The older man neared the computer and brought up the camera feed within the vehicles. Everyone held their breath in high expectations of the Rex making a hopeful appearance, but so far, it didn't seem that way. Pet frowned when she saw the fluster brighten on Hammond's face.

"Try luring it" Hammond urged.

"Alright" responded Arnold and he wheeled back over to the computer behind him, typing in yet another code. He spoke over the vehicle radio. "We'll try to tempt the Rex now. Keep watching the fence." Faces of the tourists neared the windows, the goat bleating from its being tethered.

Hammond heavily plopped down in the chair in front of the computer, shaking his head at Malcolm tapping and blowing air on the camera lens. "I really hate that man."

Pet snickered and lounged back in her chair. "Well he at least seems to love himself, so it evens out." The hybrid watched the computer generated imagery of the tropical storm, her seeing it creeping up closer to the island. "Hey Robert, I don't think this storm is going to pass on by." The game warden joined the hybrid, her pointing a clawed finger at the screen. "It looks like its going to pass _right_ _over us_." About that time, the caution alarm chimed from over the main monitor's speakers, flashing the doors being open. "Uh oh, that's not good."

Hammond rushed to the screen displaying the vehicle operation diagram and cursed under his breath. He then turned his attention to Arnold. "Stop the program. Stop the program!"

Muldoon chimed. "I told you, how many times, we needed locking mechanisms on the vehicle doors."

Pet nodded in agreement. "It would only make sense to have safety precautions on a tour involving dinosaurs, but whatever."

Hammond shot his attention to the hybrid. "Oh shut up."

She snorted a bark and was about to jump up, but was stopped by Muldoon tightly gripping her shoulder and forcing her to remain seated. She dug her clawed toes into sole of her boots and growled. Muldoon leaned over the hybrid to study the tour status map, seeing the vehicles stopped in front of the Triceratops enclosure.

He knew exactly what the guests were doing and shook his head. "Lovely."

Pet looked to see what her best friend was looking at. "What?"

"The sick Trike." The game warden grabbed his radio seated on a nearby table and questioned over it. "Gerry, what's the status of the Trike?"

At hearing his name called, a man standing in a field near a sedated Triceratops brought his attention from the bobbing heads of the oncoming tourists in the tall grass and over to his radio. "The same as earlier."

Pet slimmed her gaze down on Muldoon in concern, the man nodding. "Copy that."

"Looks like I'm about to have visitors. Should I turn them away?" The veterinarian shifted uncomfortably where he stood, watching the people become more visible through the grass.

"No, it's fine. Just keep me posted on the Trike." He set the radio back down, looking to Pet. "I found her sick this morning when making my rounds, so I tranquilized her and called Gerry. He's been out there with her, sense."

"Oye." She stood up and stretched, not really being one to sit still for too long. "I wonder what's next on the list of surprises for today."


	30. The Storm

30** \- The Storm**

Hammond's once excited smile had now fallen into a grim frown as he brought his attention to the computer displaying the storm. "Robert, what's the status of the storm?"

Before anyone could get to the phone, Pet had picked it up and was dialing it. Not asking, Muldoon took it from the hybrid and waited for an answer. He focused on the monitor, not liking how things were looking. Finally an answer came. "National Weather Service, how can I help you?"

The man answered back. "Yes, what is the status on the tropical storm near Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna?" Arnold's coal black eyes settled on the warden, not liking how he seemed more on edge than usual. This was a man who could keep his calm in the face of almost anything dangerous, yet here he was, pacing about the room with restless energy. "Yeah, I got that" he glanced down to the slightly curled weather report print outs nearby and lowered the phone, talking to the people gathered around. "That storm center hasn't dissipated or changed course. We're gonna have to cut the tour short. We'll pick it up again tomorrow where we left off."

Hammond looked up to the man with sad, sunken eyes and further frowned. This was not how he planned the weekend to go. "Are you sure we have to?"

Arnold cut in. "It's not worth taking the chance."

The older man's frown turned into a scowl, Hammond now pissed. "Tell them when they get back in the cars." Arnold nodded as Muldoon hung up the phone. "Damn!" barked Hammond as he slammed his cane onto the floor.

Minutes later, a loud crackle of thunder could be heard from within the control room, Pet sighing. "Well, there's the storm." She looked to the computer, seeing the storm cell damn near blanketing the entire island of Isla Nublar. "Just as the Weather Service predicted.

Arnold continued in an exhaled breath. "Visitor vehicles are returning to the garage."

"So much for our first tour" Hammond grumbled, while staring at his cane. "Two no shows and one sick Triceratops."

All eyes fell on the man, Pet hanging her head low with the thought of having to endure the man on a sulking trip. She rubbed two of her fingers together, as though playing a small violin, Muldoon harshly jabbing her in the side with his elbow. "Owe."

Taking a puff of his cigarette, Arnold replied. "It could've been worse, John. A lot worse."


	31. Sabotage

31** \- Sabotage**

Dennis nervously wiped his sweaty palms on the knees of his pants, unsure about the plan. He reached for the shaving cream can next to his computer and slid it into his jacket pocket. It was now or never and he got up, making an excuse. "Anybody want a soda or something?" Tense stares fell on the shaky, oversized man. "I'm going up to the machine. I thought maybe I'd get someone some thing." He gulped, seeing the suspicious raptor like eyes of the hybrid slim down on him. If he feared getting caught by anyone, it was her. "I've had only sweets and I'm gonna get something salty." Nedry wiped his hands off on his pants again, mind barely able to process words. "Oh, I uh...I finished debugging the phones." He tried to calm him, only to fail when he heard Pet snort out a bark in growing annoyance. He stammered for words. "I was...uh...said...I was going to so I, uh...I did." Muldoon peeled his gaze off the overweight man and over to his counterpart, wondering what it was that had her so worked up all of a sudden. "So I debugged the phones and I thought maybe..."

Pet sat motionless and unblinking, her smelling more than just fear pouring out of the sweating man. Sure, everyone in the room reeked of nervousness and anxiety but Nedry was something else. He was up to something, this she was sure of. Muldoon whispered to the hybrid. "What's gotten into you?"

She didn't respond as she slowly rose to her feet, her head lowering but her eyes still locked on the man. Nedry side stepped closer to the ramp leading to the door. "I should tell you the system will be compiling for 18 to 20 minutes so some of the minor systems, they might go on and off for a while, but it's nothing to worry about."

He reached over and guided the computer mouse icon over the screen, starting a program while starting a stopwatch on his own wrist watch. Not wasting anymore time, nor liking the predatory gaze of the girl, the man scurried out of the control room and out into the hallway. Pet snorted at the man as he strode by, him nearly jumping over the railing at the sound.

Her eyes stayed locked onto Nedry until he was out of the room and out of site. Muldoon grabbed the challenging hybrid's arm, forcefully spinning her around to face him. "What in the bloody hell has gotten into you?"

She snarled. "Don't tell me I'm the only one, here, suspecting something."

Hammond's watch was now on the computer screens again, watching the security cameras. "You're always suspecting something, Pet." He tapped on a button on the keypad, the camera view changing to show his grandkids looking bummed in the backseat of the vehicle. "I blame it on hanging around Robert too much. The both of you could make a statue nervous." Arnold prepared to light another cigarette when a beep from the computer got his attention.

He looked to see what it was and slapped his Zippo lighter closed. "That's odd."

Hammond mumbled behind his hand, propping up his head. "What?"

"Door security systems are shutting down." He pointed to the screen to show what he was referring to.

Pet scampered to the piled down workstation where Nedry sat to see, what exactly, he had done. Her eyes scanned the screen for anything suspicious, her shaking her head in confusion. Hammond continued. "Well Nedry said a few systems would go offline, didn't he?"

Muldoon joined the hybrid and leaned in over her shoulder to see the same thing she was looking at. "Looks like everything he said he was doing, to me."

Pet grumbled. "I knew I should've taken that computer course for dummies last year."

"There's dummies, Pet, and then there's you." He cocked a sideways smile, the hybrid backhanding him in the gut. "Brat."

Hammond sighed in watching the camera feed when it suddenly shut off. His attention instantly fell on the two game wardens. "What the hell did you two touch?"

Pet held up her hands, Muldoon shaking his head and answering. "Nothing, why?"

About that time, the power to the perimeter fences started to go down, this startling everyone in the room. The hybrid's stern features morphed to horror. "Oh shit." 

Arnold took a deep breath in to calm his nerves, mumbling, "What the hell, what the hell..."

Hammond looked from the screen and over to the engineer. "What now?"

"Fences are failing all over the park."

"Find Nedry!" The angered, older man ordered. "Check the vending machines."

Pet scoffed. "This is great." She aimed a finger at Hammond. "I _knew_ that fat bastard was up to no good!" She leapt over the railing, continuing, "But no! I'm over reacting!" and left the room, running off down the hallway.


	32. The T-Rex

32** \- The T-Rex**

"Look at this work station!" Arnold shoved stacks of papers, empty candy wrappers and an empty soda can off the desk and onto the floor. "What a complete slob."

Muldoon analyzed the computer screens. "The raptor fences aren't out, are they?"

From Nedry's disaster pile of a computer desk, Arnold accessed the appropriate systems, shaking his head. "No, no. They're still on."

It made no sense to the park CO. "Why the hell would he turn the other ones off?"

Pet ran into the room, lightly panting for air as she announced, "I checked the machines and the kitchen." She shook her head. "I didn't see Nedry anywhere."

Hammond's white knuckles shined in contrast against his cane and ordered to Arnold, "Find out what the hell he did and fix it, if possible."

Pet joined the three men. "And quickly, before all hell breaks loose."

The engineer frantically typed away on the keyboard, feeling disgusted at how his fingers stuck to some of the keys. "Access main security" he mumbled behind a smoking cigarette. "Access main program grid." Nothing seemed to work, the man getting irritated. "Permission denied?! What the-"

A moment later, the message 'You Didn't Say The Magic Word!' continuously scrolled across the screen followed by a cartooned image of Nedry popping up on the other screen, repeating the spammed message.

Arnold raged out, "Please! Damn it, I hate this hacker crap."

It didn't look like things were going to improve to the hybrid and she went back over to the computer to see where the tour vehicles stopped. She frowned. Why, of all the places, did it have to be the Tyrannosaur paddock? Paranoia and a bad nagging feeling chewed away the hybrid's insides, her leaving the control room.

Hammond glanced over to Muldoon, a fearful expression on his face. "Where did the vehicles stop?"

The game warden looked back towards the computers, about to ask the hybrid, only to find her gone. "Great. Where the hell did Pet go?"

A clawed hand dug around the canvas bag strapped to the top of a red and grey painted four wheeler, the hybrid growling to herself. It was raining outside and was very cold as it pelted her bare arms and run down her back in sheets. She released a shiver against the wet chill and in frustration, yanked out almost everything, except for the medical kit, from the bag to find the ATV key. Not wanting to waste anymore time, she cranked it up and drove off, following the track in the road she knew would lead her to the T-Rex paddock.

Meanwhile...

Grant and Malcolm watched Gennaro hysterically run to the small hut housing the restrooms, curious. "Where does he think he's going?"

Malcolm shrugged. "When you got to go, you got to go."

And then they heard it; a loud thud coming from the paddock. Both men brought their focus to the enclosure, eyes widening when watching the cables be snapped like string. This wasn't good and the fence creaked against the sway of something monstrous. A moment later, the form of an escaped Tyrannosaur was visible in the vehicle headlights, Malcolm stating, "Man do I hate being right all the time."

The Rex fiercely roared, Pet hearing it from off in the distance and sped up. She was already going faster than she felt comfortable with, especially on such muddy roads.

Grant froze where he sat, daring to breathe only because he needed to, and watched the dinosaur. "Keep absolutely still. It's vision is based on movement." The Rex nudged the second car with its snout and growled, finding it un-interesting. However, it took an interest in the first one further ahead upon seeing movement from within and went towards it. The two men could see a light's beam cut through the darkness, Grant muttering to himself, "Turn the light off."

Again, another roar from the massive beast echoed the air, there no denying something was definitely wrong. Pet could see the paddock perimeter fence ahead and came to an abrupt stop when she saw the escaped Rex tear through the bathroom hut. Through the air Malcolm flew, landing harshly to the ground, but Gennaro wasn't so lucky. The hybrid clawed at the laces of her boots with trembling hands from either the cold or out of fright, she wasn't sure, and tossed them aside. She could see one of the vehicles flipped over and resting on the hood as Grant fought to get the children out from within it.

From inside the flipped over car, Lex cried, desperately clutching to Grant for assistance. Tim wiggled around in the mud, attempting to climb out as well, only to find himself pinned down. "I'm stuck" he whimpered. "The seat's got my feet."

With a little bit of pulling on Grant's part, Lex was finally free, the teenager hardly recognizable beneath the mud caked on her face and matted in her hair. The horror stricken girl got to her knees, relieved to finally be free from the car, but screamed a moment later when seeing the Rex. Grant, acting on impulse, quickly wrapped a hand around the girl's mouth to shut her up.

The Rex turned it's attention to the source of the scream and neared the overturned vehicle, searching for its next meal. Pet saw this and her breath caught in her chest, alright tight with a rush of fear. The snout of the monstrous carnivore was now mere inches from Grant and Lexi, it snorting in their faces and blowing the man's hat off his head. Pet's eyes widened and loudly shrilled, tearing off into a run aimed at the dinosaur.

Grant heard the blood freezing shrill, him remembering the sound coming from an attacking raptor, as he had heard earlier in the day. Great. Just what the situation needed; loose raptors. From the corner of his eye, he saw the swift form tear through the mud and lunge onto the Rex's haunches, shrilling again. The Rex roared out in pain and anger, it trashing about to try and shake off its attacker, but Pet wouldn't have it.

Using her footing she had on the Rex, she lunged onto the back of the creature and dug her claws into its neck. Again, the dinosaur roared out in pain and shook its head, even slamming it into the battered car. Pet felt her grip loosen and she fell to the ground, landing almost next to where Grant and Lexi watched, utterly appalled at the scene. Grant's unblinking gaze tore from the Rex and on its attacker, disbelieving what he was seeing. It was the intern from the raptor pen, earlier, but looking nothing as she did earlier. His eyes instantly fell on the prominent sickle claw, visible through the blood and mud splattered on her feet.

The Tyrannosaur roared out as Pet roared back in response, her flexing her clawed hands into the muddy earth. She yelled out to the wide eyed scientist. "Get the kids and get out of here! Go! Run!"

The Rex lunged at the hybrid, but she avoided the attack to leap back onto the ravenous creature. She drove her sickle claws into the soft skin of the beast's neck and with everything she could, kicked out with one of her feet to slash at the throat. The Rex threw its head into the car again, this time spinning it and knocking over the two huddled people.

Quickly Grant drug Lex behind him as he crawled around the vehicle for cover, never taking his gaze off the dinosaur's attacker. What in the living hell was that thing? Her... _It?_ The Rex managed to fling the hybrid off it's neck and roared triumphantly. Pet hit the ground with a hard thud and slid a couple feet, her screeching in pain at the impact. Grant's mind seized up in panic when he saw the girl ball up on the ground as the Rex was now back to solely focusing on its previous task.

It nudged the car with its snout, almost pinning Grant and Lex between it and concrete wall in the process. Still inside the car was Tim who yelled out in fear, crying for help. Grant wanted nothing more than to help him, but at that exact moment, he was more concerned about not falling off the paddock barricade. Things went from bad to worse, though, when he saw the dinosaur start to push the car onto the ledge.

He grabbed one of the broken fencing cables and motioned for Lex to get on his back, her doing so. Carefully, the man proceeded down the cable, gurgling to the girl unintentionally choking him. "Lex, you're choking me!" She didn't seem to relax her grasp as Grant looked up to the car, now teetering on the barricade wall's ledge.


	33. InGen's Other Experiment

33** \- In-Gen's Other Experiment**

Pet forced herself upwards and glanced over her shoulder to see the Rex completely push the car over the ledge. She roared out in anger and mustered what strength she could to lunge back at the animal and claw at its thigh. The Rex stamped its foot and pawed at the ground, Pet digging her claws deeper into the muscle. She knew it was a loosing fight and cried out in pain when she collided with the barricade after being shaken off again. She crawled up onto the top of the barricade wall and was about to attempt to leap onto its snout when she saw Grant and Lex from the corner of her eye.

He had taken a cable and was sliding down it with the girl wrapped around his back, the hybrid smiling. Seemed like a good idea to her and grabbed a cable herself. Just as the Rex's powerful jaws were closing in, the hybrid propelled down the cable and safely to the ground below. Grant watched the descending girl and backed away in uncertainty. "Get behind me, Lex" but she didn't need telling for she was already taking cover behind him.

Pet landed to the ground and stumbled, hissing a shrill in pain. She stood there a minute, leaning onto her knees and trying to catch her breath. Her body hurt all over, especially her side after landing on it the way she did. She brought a hand to the source of the pain and whimpered, A few feet behind her were the two people staring at her in fear and slowly distancing themselves from where she stood. The hybrid could smell their fear and glanced over her shoulder to see them stop in their back peddling, afraid of what she would do next.

She snorted and fully turned to face the two, Grant getting a better head to toe visual examination of the girl. Her slimmed, raptor like eyes stood out in contrast behind loose strands of hair and the steaks of blood and mud running down her face. Her once white tank top and tan shorts were now crimson from blood stains as beads of red fell from her clawed fingers. Trails of pink water sailed down her muscular legs and to her raptor like feet, Grant choking a gasp. Blood covered, raptor like, sickle shaped claws stared back and he brought his attention back up to the chilling eyes watching him.

He hoarsely questioned. "What the hell are you?"

Pet barked a snort and curled her upper lip to partial bare her carnivorous teeth. "In'Gen's _other_ experiment." She took a step towards the two and felt somewhat offended when they recoiled away from her. "I'm not going to hurt you, Dr. Grant, or the kids." Speaking of which, she cocked her head to the side in curiosity. "Where's the boy?"

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**At the moment, still working on the rest of the content between the end of this chapter and up to the last 3 chapters I already have written out. Hopefully, I'll have it posted soon. Please feel free to leave a review!**


	34. Rescuing Tim

**It seems this fan fiction is a lot more popular than I expected it'd be. So, in light of the anticipation of Jurassic World I figured I'd dust this old project off and at least get out the few chapters needed to bridge chapter 33 and last 3 chapters together. Enjoy!**

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**34 - Rescuing Tim**

Lex shrieked, "Tim!" and glanced up to where the vehicle headlights shinning through the tree limbs. "TIMMY!"

Pet saw the glow of the vehicle's lights and snorted. "Oh."

Grant wiped away the water running into his eyes and frowned when he found traces of blood on his hands. He kept a cautious watch on the mysterious girl, half expecting her to attack him should he turn his back on her, and sidestepped over to a nearby drain pipe. Pet could sense his extreme unease around her and she couldn't blame him. She broke her watch off of him to look up into the trees, frowning in skepticism. What were the chances of the kid still being alive, if not seriously injured?

Lexi's hysterically repeating "He left us! _He left us!_" got the hybrid's attention, her looking at the frightened teen. The two weren't that much different in age, which made Pet realize the extreme differences in their lifestyles.

Grant smiled reassuringly to the girl. "But that's not what I'm going to do." He studied the frantic girl, still on the verge of hyperventilating. "Okay?" Lexi nodded her head, though not sure why. At this point, it was probably due to muscle memory when hearing someone trying to provide comfort. "Stay here," Grant began, pointing where she stood by the drain pipe and strode over to where Pet stood.

He was skeptical of her, at most, but knew because of the situation he had no choice. She was obviously quiet adept at fighting with dinosaurs and would probably know the park layout. The scientist studied the woman in question as she gazed upwards into the tree limbs where the vehicle headlights stared back.

She could tell he was staring at her with eyes wide as large marbles, and rolled her attention towards him from the corner of her eyes. Pet cocked a brow in question, knowing he had something to say. "Well?"

A bit embarrassed at being caught staring, Grant cleared his throat and looked to the vehicle. "What are the chances of someone surviving that?"

Pet shrugged, too looking back up to the vehicle. "Depends on how well secured he was and if or how he impacted a hard surface upon landing."

Grant stepped around the young woman to steadily approach the tree. "Timmy!" He was now under the vehicle's location and in its direct path should it dislodge from its snagged position and crash to the ground. It was a thought he'd rather not think about. Right now, he needed to remain calm and focused for the boy.

Pet could not only smell but sense the man's growing fear. He took hold of a vine snaking down the trunk of the tree and readied himself to begin climbing. "Want me to go, instead?"

"Huh?" Grant turned to meet the intimidating gaze of the apparent hybrid. "Oh, no I think I can get it."

"You sure about that?" She planted her hands on her hips and snorted an almost laugh. "Because you don't much look like a person for climbing trees."

He took a moment to glare at the woman before proceeding upwards, using the vine and limbs as grips and steps. "Tim?" Silence. "You hear me? I'm coming up." Pet cocked her head to the side in thought.

If he fell, there was no way she'd be able to catch him. She sighed and glanced back behind her to check on the pale faced Lexi. She could hear Grant mumble something under his breath in his ascending the tree and shook her head, turning to actually check on the teen girl. "How are you holding up?" The girl couldn't answer. She was too wound up from the excitement and the anticipation of her brother's condition. "Everything will be alright. You'll see." She patted the girl on the shoulder, not intending to spook her.

Lexi's horrified blue eyes instantly fell on the clawed hand at her shoulder and she shrieked. "Get away from me!" She almost fell to the ground when trying to slide away from Pet's reach.

"Okay, no worries." Pet held up her clawed hands to show she meant no harm and took a step back to give the teen some space.

In the tree, Grant felt around for something firm to grasp onto when hoisting himself up to the vehicle. He peered inside, just over the front passenger door to see the motionless form of Tim. A gash ran across his right eye brow and his face caked with mud. At first glance, he appeared dead. No. No, he couldn't be. This wasn't happening.

The scientist grabbed onto the door and leaned in to question, "Tim?"

Ever so slightly, the little boy lifted his head to meet the panic stricken features of his rescuer. A flutter of relief twitched at his insides when watching the man open the door and come for him. This man was already a hero in his eyes and now, even more so with his coming to save him. Tim wanted to throw himself into the man's arms and hug him, crying thank you but couldn't. He refused to move. His whole body hurt everywhere, not to mention the throbbing ache echoing in his ears with each heart beat.

"You okay?" Grant questioned, cautiously lowering the SUV's door to gain better access to the little boy.

Tim whimpered, his voice barely audible, "I threw up."

Not what Grant wanted to hear. Already, he wasn't too keen on children and the thought of a sick one only drew further concern. This wasn't the time to think about that. "That's okay" he comforted, stretching out his hand. "Just give me your hand."

On the ground, Pet paced between Lexi and the tree, eyes squinting upwards at the headlights. She shielded her eyes against the rain water dripping from the trees and snorted in annoyance. What was taking so long? She knew she should've gone up there instead of letting him do it. A creaking from the tree got her attention and she stepped forward to get a better look. What was happening?

Her heart started to pick up in tempo. "Everything alright up there?" No answer. Another series of creaks, Pet not liking the sound of it. It was just the weight of the vehicle shifting, is all. The boy was out of it, now, and it was creaking because of. Nothing to worry about. She watched the two start to climb down when she heard it. A limb snapping. "Shit" she blurted under her breath. "Get down from there! Come on, hurry up!"

Grant huffed out, "Oh no," and looked to the little boy. "Tim, GO!"

Frantically the two wove through the branches and raced down, desperate to escape the vehicle easing down snapping limbs to get to them. Had it not been for a thicker branch slowing its pursuit, it was sure to have collided with them. Tim yelped, Grant urging him to keep going.

The limb was starting to give as Tim went against his better judgment to look upwards. Headlights bathed him in their fluorescence and he was momentarily blinded by it. He looked like a deer in their spotlight and whimpered in panic. "GO, TIM, GO!" Grant grabbed him by a sleeve of his shirt to tug him to follow. Branches snapping under the weight of the descending vehicle echoed the air like thunder, the two people mere feet from feeling the wrath of. They were close to the ground, the man yelling, "JUMP!"

Together the two people leapt from the tree and onto the ground, hunkering down between two prominent roots. Just a few inches shy of them was the front end of the vehicle, the man once more tugging at Tim to follow him. Pet screamed, "Watch out!" just as the battered and beaten SUV started to fall forward. With a body wrenching crunch, it crashed to mud sodden forest floor. She dared not move, Lexi charging past her to the vehicle. Pet was barely able to grab her arm before out of reach and pulled her back to her. "Wait" she growled, staring intently at the teen. "Some things are best not seen by children."

She released the girl to venture to the vehicle. Voices. She could hear voices and stepped closer to hear what was said. It was Tim, stating between pants of breath, "Well, we're back...in the car again..."

"At least you're out of the tree" Grant answered back in a sigh.

Pet's head drooped down, her shaking it. Looks like Dr. Grant had a sense of humor after all. She knelt down beside the driver's side, craning her neck to make out the huddled forms inside. "You two alright?" The oldest of the two shot her a glare. How could she ask that after what they had just been through? She extended her hand, Grant moving aside to let Tim go through first.

As soon as he was completely out of the wreckage, Lexi scooped him up in her arms and cried in relief. Pet offered the man assistance, but he opted out and chose to climb out on his own. He wasn't about to take her hand. Something about those claws seemed a bit unwelcoming. The declining of his gesture stung at Pet a bit and her mix of frowning and scowling reflected it.

Lexi collided with the man, next, her sobbing into his muddy shirt. "Thank you, Dr. Grant. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Not quiet sure how to respond, the man patted the girl on the back and awkwardly peeled her off him. "We need to get out of here and get someplace safe. The T-Rex knows this area belonging to them and will likely come back." He turned to look at the disgruntled hybrid still staring at the mangled SUV. "How well do you know this place?"

Pet lifted her head to study the man. Now he wanted her help? She had a good mind to say to hell with him, but knew he and the children were a package deal in the rescue. Hammond would want his grandchildren back and would do whatever necessary to make it happen. "Well enough, I suppose."

"We could use your help." He lowered his gaze on her. "I could use your help." Pet's raptor eyed gaze slimmed down on the man. "Please..." he continued, it obvious the word pained him as much as his wounds.

The young woman nodded. "Alright. Follow me."


	35. In Safe Hands

**35 - In Safe Hands**

The other car had been found, as had Pet's four wheeler. Not to mention what was left of Gennaro and the only survivor Ian Malcolm. Looking at the scene, it was pretty evident to Muldoon what had happened. The electric fence lines were torn from the posts and what was the restroom facility was now splinters scattered in the mud. The T-Rex had gotten out and wrought havoc. But where was the other vehicle? In his loading Malcolm into the back of the Jeep, Muldoon watched Ellie search the premises for any signs of the second SUV.

An all too familiar roaring in the background of the wandering king of dinosaurs brought the game warden's hair on end. The last place he wanted to be was the dinosaur's territory should it come back.

Ellie followed the bits of debris to the center point of the ravaged fence and peered over the concrete wall. "Its the other car!"

It looked as though she were about to climb down the wall using a fence wire, but Muldoon stopped her. "Have you lost your mind?"

"I have to get down there" she cried in borderline hysteria. "Alan, the kids... I can't stay here, I have to get down there."

"Fine, that's fine, but I'd suggest using the access ladder." Ellie paused to study the man, eyes wide in slight hope. "Its over here." He motioned her to the right and passed the remaining vehicle "Careful, though. It goes about 30 feet down and is probably slippery after all this rain."

Malcolm sat up to the best of his ability to watch the two. "Whoa, whoa what are you two doing? You can't go down there!"

Ellie glowered at the injured man. "Watch me" and crawled under the loose, wire fencing to proceed downwards.

Muldoon looked to the man. "You'll be alright up here by yourself, won't you?"

"Its not me I'm worried about." The two men exchanged glances before Muldoon followed suit behind Ellie. She was already on the ground by the time he was halfway there.

She was hysterical and no longer able to restrain her sobs. A part of her tried to stop her from going to the wreckage, fearful of what she'd find, but the other part of her was stronger. She rounded the back of the car and to the open driver's side door, flashing her light inside. "Alan?"

Muldoon skipped the last step by jumping down to take his own analysis of the car. "They're not here" he breathed out, shining his flashlight through the front, shattered windshield.

No, no, no. Ellie stiffened back another sob and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. Had the T-Rex came to finish what it started? She hung her head low in grief and stood up, refusing to accept the missing people as being gone. She was about to join Muldoon on the other side of the vehicle when she saw it from the corner of her eye. The woman brought her light over to the indentions of foot prints in the mud leading away from the car. Her breath caught in her chest. One, two, three... four? Four sets of foot prints? She could place the larger set belonging to Alan and the second largest as Lexi's with the smallest being Tim's. But what were those?

She tilted her head to the side and knelt down to study the different styled tracks. She had seen that type print before. "Robert..." she called.

Hearing his name, the warden rushed to where Ellie knelt. "What? What is it?" He brought his attention to the prints glistening in the mud.

"Please don't tell me those aren't what I think they are..." She pointed to the distinct animal like prints. "Those are Velociraptor, aren't they?"

Muldoon huffed a laugh as a subtle smile upturned his stressed features. "Pet, you crazy kid."

"What?" Ellie stood up. Her brow wrinkled when studying the man. Why was he smiling? "Pet? What's Pet? What are you talking about?"

The warden's eyes lit up with relief. "Not to worry, Dr Sattler. It appears our missing company are in safe hands." She opened her mouth to question what he meant but no words would come out. Over and over she tried to get her thoughts out. Finally she gave up. Muldoon knelt down to study the tracks. "These tracks aren't that old. Maybe 30 minutes, at most."

"Can we catch up to them?" Ellie followed them around the back of the vehicle until they became obscured by forest floor foliage.

"We could, but by now they've already got a good head start on us. Knowing Pet and how fast she travels, no telling how far they are. Besides," he joined the woman beside the bushes. "We still need to get Malcolm back to the visitor center and his wounds treated."

"You can go. I'll try to find the others."

"Absolutely not!" Muldoon's voice had shifted from calm to loud and demanding. "There's no telling what all is loose out there and you are unarmed. You'd be traveling in a Tyrannosaur paddock by yourself."

Ellie stared at the man disbelievingly, realizing how absurd the idea sounded in the first place. She nodded. "Yeah, you're right." She gazed out into the thick underbrush, frowning. "You think they're okay?"

It was Muldoon's turn to nod. "I'm almost certain of it. Pet wouldn't chance traveling with someone if she didn't think it wise."

"Wait, wait... who is this Pet?"

Water standing in a nearby puddle started to ripple, it getting the warden's immediate attention. "I think its time we get going."

Ellie followed the man's stare aimed at the puddle and waited to see what it was. Ripples. "Good idea" she stated in agreement, following the warden back up the access ladder.


	36. A Pet By Any Other Name

**36 - A Pet By Any Other Name**

A T-Rex roaring rang through the forest and landed on the ears of the four disheveled travelers. Tim stopped in his tracks to stare nervously at his sister. Lexi's heart seized in her chest. "Are you hearing this?" Her frantic gaze shifted between the other woman and Grant.

The older man got up from his sitting down to stare though the mist shrouded forest undergrowth where the roar had come from. Never looking away, he questioned the hybrid coming up behind him. "Is, uh... that-"

"A Tyrannosaur...yeah."

"And how far off would you say it is..." Their gazes momentarily locked.

Pet shrugged. "Roughly 2 miles, give or take."

"Oh." It didn't seem that was what Grant wanted to hear. Well then what did he want to hear? That the beast was far, far away from them no where near a threat? Pet narrowed her gaze down on the man in debate. The man made a beeline for the little boy and guided him towards a large tree not far from where they currently were. "Come on, Tim. Hurry up." He grabbed Lex by the arm in the process. "Let's, uh, get up this tree."

This surprised the hybrid. She figured the man much to be a much more composed type, versus the easily spooked type. But she guessed it made sense, given everything he had just been through. This was quiet mild to compared to some of the days she'd experienced both in Kenya and here. She watched the three scurry to the tree's massive, entangled roots.

Tim started to whimper and even cry a little bit when being subjected to going to the tree. Grant tried to reassure the child the best he could, but the urgency in his voice overshadowed his intentions. "Come on, Tim, it's okay. Listen, try up here." The man guided the kids to what looked to be easiest of the root system to climb.

"Oh man" Tim whined as he began to climb up the root. "I hate trees."

"They don't bother me" Lex stated. She was already well on her way up the tree before Tim could even get past the root.

"Yeah? Well, you weren't in the last one." Pet rounded the tree base to where the people were and watched, arms crossed over her chest.

Grant sighed and looked over at the raptor like woman. "Are you coming or not?"

"Do you really need me to protect you from the big, bag tree, Dr. Grant?" The look she was receiving from the man made her scoff and shake her head.

"I'm sure it'll make the kids feel a little safer." Pet cocked a brow in question. The kids, or him?

Snorting, the woman began climbing the tree, too. She made it look easy as she crawled over and through the series of limbs layering over the next. The hybrid made her way to the top, followed by Lexi, Tim and finally Grant. Pet perched herself on a limb and was momentarily taken back by the view. Grazing on the tree tops in the distance were several Brachiosaurus.

Suddenly, Tim had forgotten being in a tree again and blurted, pointing at the scene, "Look at the Brontosauruses. I mean, uh, Brachiosaurus!"

Moaning like sounds from the majestic creatures filled the air, Grant awe struck. "They're singing."

The four sat there, watching and listening to the more peaceful side of Jurassic Park. Lexi hardly blinked as a wide, ear to ear smile stretched across Tim's face. For the paleontologist, he was a mix of both. His eyes were fixated on the beasts and his expression something of a boy lost in a dream. It made Pet smile, watching him take in every detail of the scene. She couldn't help but feel a bit jealous and downturned her gaze to study her clawed hands and sickle clawed feet. A frowned pained her and she sighed, knowing all she could do was except what she was. An abomination, as Hammond had been known to say.

Grant got up and made his way over to the tree limb. "Pardon me, a minute" he stated as he sat down in front of her.

Had his back not been turned away from her, he'd have seen the shock and fear take over her. She dared not move and began digging her claws into the tree bark. He was much too close for her comfort and it made her greatly uncomfortable. Only in her dreams had she imagined being this close to him never to once think it'd happen in real life.

He began to howl into his folded hands to make a series of sounds much like the dinosaur's. Lexi grabbed onto the man's leg to stop him. "Won't the monsters come over here?"

Grant gazed down at the antsy girl. "They're not monsters, they're animals. These are herbivores."

Tim giggled and nudged his sister in the side. "That mean's they only eat vegetables, but for you I think they'd make an exception!" He snickered again.

Even Pet had to laugh a little. "I hate the other kind" Lexi continued.

Satisfied at the result of his little playing around, Grant climbed down off the limb. He could see the hybrid seated stiff back and as close to the tree trunk as possible. She looked a bit scarred. "You alright?"

She nodded and swallowed the rising nerves in her throat. "Oh yeah" she choked out. "Couldn't be better." She smiled a wide, sharp toothed grin which grew a slight recoil from the man. He nodded in acceptance and returned to where he'd been sitting. The woman face palmed herself, not sure how much more of an idiot she could make herself look.

Disgruntled, Pet laid parallel to the tree branch on her stomach and rested her chin on her arms folded in front of her. She blanked out what the three talked about as she really didn't care. Her mind was full of her own thoughts, such as what was in store for them later on in their journey and if anyone was looking for them. She liked to think so. How couldn't they?

Pet continued to lay there, absentmindedly watching the herd of Brachiosaurs feast on the vast selection of leaves. Lexi questioned. "What are you and Ellie going to do, now, if don't dig up bones anymore?" 

It was a good question and something the scientist hadn't really thought on. "I don't know." He shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to evolve, too."

Tim tried to lighten the mood by making jokes, but Pet could only grumble to herself in response. Lexi timidly questioned, "Alan?"

"Yeah?"

"What if the dinosaurs come back while we're all asleep?"

"Heh." Now that was something he'd thought of since taking to the tree. His eyes rested on the stretched out hybrid. "I'll stay awake."

"All night?" Surely he wouldn't, would he? He had to be just as tired as them.

Grant nodded and answered, "All night." Pet's thoughts were broken, however, by Grant trying to get her attention. "Miss?"

She sat up to look over her shoulder at the man. Nestled against him on either side were the kids. "Yeah?"

"What's your name, by the way? I don't believe I ever got it, before." His eyes were sincere and his question innocent enough.

"Pet" answered the hybrid, looking down at the tree limb.

What? "No, I mean your name. Not your nickname. Your name."

"That is my name." Pet refused to look at the man as though ashamed of herself.

"Is that short for Patricia or-"

The man's question was cut short by her interrupting him. "No! Pet is my name. My full and only name, okay?"

At first, Grant was annoyed at the tone of disrespect in her voice, but that quickly changed to sympathy when hearing the hurt. "You weren't given a real name? Like a first, middle and last name?" She shook her head. "Why not?"

His questions were starting to stab at a scar long healed and one she had come to accept, for the most part. She flinched at her own answer. "Why? Look at me. I'm not a person. I'm a...a thing created in a test tube..."

Her words were starting to hurt the others, the kids frowning. Lexi softly spoke. "You're not a thing. You are a person and you deserve a name, just like anyone else."

Grant continued. "Haven't you ever wanted a name? Surely you've thought one up for yourself..."

Pet shook her head. "Actually, no, I haven't. I've always thought a name to be given to someone from someone special to that person. So, because of, I never really thought about one." Which was a lie. She had always wanted a real name and hoped one day, Hammond would soften up enough to let her have one. Guess Pet was as good as it was going to get for her.

"You don't want a full name..." Grant furrowed his brow in confusion and question.

"I didn't say that. Sure, I'd love a name, but I wouldn't name myself. I'd let someone special do that, instead. It'd mean more." She glanced back at the man, traces of tears evident in her raptor like eyes.

He was quiet a moment as he studied the young woman, feeling guilty for even bringing it up. He didn't mean to upset her. "Do you at least have some idea of what type of name you'd want?"

Pet heaved a sigh and returned to watch to the grazing dinosaurs. "It's silly."

Lexi cut in. "No, what? I want to hear it."

"Well," Pet started, uncertain if she wanted to admit what she'd kept secret almost all her life. She hadn't even told Muldoon because she thought he'd find it preposterous. "I wanted it to be something with the initials V and R."

Tim tilted his head to the side. "Why V and R?"

"Like I said, its silly." Pet wiped at her eyes and sniffed back her self pity.

Grant spoke. "I'm sure its not."

The woman knew the topic wouldn't be dropped until she gave them what they wanted. "V because of Veloci and R because Raptor. There, I said it. Happy?" She laid back down on the tree limb, resting her cheek against the damp cool of its bark.

The scientist watched her. After all she'd done to help them, he wanted to do something in return. "Mind if I pick a name, then?"

His words stole the hybrid's breath from her chest and her inability to move. She laid there, rigid and motionless. Then, as though an invisible force had ripped her off the limb, she sat up to stare wide eyed at the man. "Really?"

He nodded. "After all, you did save not only the children's lives but mine as well. Not to mention you're helping us get back to the visitor center."

"You're serious..." Her voice was distant and breathless.

"I am." He smiled to her and in doing so, watched the hybrid figuratively crumble. Since the incident with the T-Rex attack, he'd come to see this wondrous creation as a lithe killing machine. Now, here she was with all guard down and in just as weak of state as them. "That is, if you're alright with it."

Pet fervently nodded. "Absolutely!" Her favorite person she'd grown up following and watching in his excavations throughout the years was wanting to name her!

"Okay, then. Let's see..." He slimmed down his visual examination of her and thought. "Valerie? No...you don't look like a Valerie. Vickie, Vanessa, Virginia, Victoria..." All his suggestions were drawing grimaces from the woman. "Violet, Vivian, Veronica-" The hybrid perked up. "Veronica?" She nodded. "Now for a middle name. Rs and something that sounds good with Veronica..." He was quiet as he thought. "Renee. Veronica Renee."

Tears flooded down Pet's cheeks and no matter how much she tried to wipe at them, more tears fell. "I like it."

"There you go" Grant praised, smiling broader at the hybrid.

"And it even has a cute little nickname, too." The man raised a brow in question. "Its something else I wanted was a name with a little nickname, too. Like Meg for Megan, Tim for Timothy." She motioned to the little boy.

Lexi was confused. "What nickname are you referring to?"

"Nica" Grant answered, wearing a proud expression. Pet nodded in agreement. He could see the level of excitement in her features and was taken by surprise when watching her eyes shift from the golden yellow of a raptor's to a normalized blue green color. "Your eyes" he stated in amazement. "They changed."

Pet quickly looked away from the man and hoped he hadn't seen her blushing, too. "They do that sometimes." It felt like her heart was about to explode out of chest and she nervously dug at the tree bark with her claws. "You three should get some rest. It's a long walk to where we need to go and who knows what lies between us and the center."

Tim nodded in agreement. "Good idea."

"Agreed" replied Lexi.

Grant kept his attention on the hybrid when he spoke. "Its best you do the same for yourself."


	37. Morning Wake Up Call

**37 - Morning Wake Up Call**

Muldoon pulled around back of the visitor center and stopped shy of where Hammond was standing. He looked weary and stress stricken. "Where are my grandchildren?" He came around the Jeep to study Malcolm and nearly panicked when seeing the mauled man. "What happened? Where's Dr. Grant? Where are the kids?"

The warden got out of the Jeep and slammed the dented in door. "That bitch Tyrannosaur broke loose." With Ellie's help, the injured man was lifted from and the vehicle and supported as they made their way to the back entrance. "Took out one of the vehicles and trashed the lavatory."

"Define 'took out'." The older man opened the back door for the three people and was quick to follow behind them.

"As in, it was completely smashed and thrown over the wall."

Hammond stopped in his tracks horrified. Given Malcolm's condition, it had to be the vehicle he was in that got destroyed, right? "Which vehicle was this?" He quickly rushed to catch up the best he could. Damn this limp!

To the control room the four went, though slowly up the stairs given Malcolm's inability to adequately climb them himself. Even with assistance, the process was still slow. "The first one," answered Muldoon, regret deep in his voice. They arrived to the control room and as carefully as possible, laid the wounded man down. The game warden looked to his long time employer with deep sympathy in his eyes. "I'm sorry, John."

Hammond leaned against a hand rail for support, his head hung low and eyes cast downward. "What about Pet?"

"She's with Dr. Grant and the children."

Brief hope flashed in the man's eyes as he looked up to the warden. "You're certain of this?"

Muldoon nodded. "Ellie and I saw her foot prints with the others' going into the forest."

Hammond looked to Ellie, kneeling down and trying to provide aide to Malcolm. "Is this true?"

The woman nodded. Muldoon continued. "If there's any one person on this shit hole I'd trust to keep them safe, its her. She knows the island and knows everything about each species in the park. Knowing Pet, she's already on her way here, now."

Hammond nodded in acceptance and grimly studied the faces looking to him. "You're right." he heaved a breath. "I'm going to step out for some fresh air. Keep me posted on anything should someone find out something." Without another word, the man gradually made his way out of the room and down the hallway. Within minutes, he was out of sight and going who knew where.

Hours drug on what felt like endlessly. Every time Muldoon checked the time, it was only minutes after the last time he checked it. Nervously he paced around the control room, which made Malcolm more on edge each time he spun on a heel to walk in the opposite direction. He could be heard, mumbling something to himself, but Malcolm dared not ask him to repeat it despite being curious on what was being said. He had a feeling he didn't want to know, anyway, given how some of it sounded more like obscene rants than anything else.

Midnight slipped by, followed by 1 AM and then 2 AM. Muldoon sat in a chair with his face buried in his hands. It was now pushing close to 6:45, which meant the sun was starting to rise. The warden mumbled to himself. "Come on, Pet. I know you're out there. Come back."

* * *

Curled up against each other in a tree were Grant and the two kids, sound asleep and oblivious to the sun rising over the horizon of tree tops. Stretched out on a tree limb and resembling something more of a cat was Pet, her arms and legs dangling from the limb.

The four looked at peace until the stirring of something nearby started to wake Grant. A Brachiosaur had made its way to the tree and was now leaning in for a bite of rich green leaves not far from the man's foot. Lazily he cracked his eyes open and boyishly smiled at the majestic creature munching not far from the tree. The heavy breathing of the beast awoke Lexi, it taking a minute to realize the new comer's presence.

She quickly scurried away from the looming animal's head, yelling "Go away!"

The excitement suddenly woke Pet as she jerked away, almost falling from the limb. She dug her claws into the tree and tightly wrapped her arms around it to keep herself from falling. Not exactly how she wanted to be woken up and she glared angrily at the teenage girl. Her attention didn't linger on the girl for long when she noticed the visiting dinosaur.

Grant tried to calm the frantic girl. "It's okay. It's a Brachiosaurus."

Tim squealed in delight. "Its a Veggie-sauraus, Lex!" A what? Pet cocked a brow at the little boy in her gradually sitting up. The boy neared the edge of the tree, his nose now barely three feet from the dinosaur's. "Mmmm! Come on, girl!"

Behind him, Grant fought to break a small branch off the tree to use as an enticement to lure the dinosaur closer to the group. "Alright..." He waved, motioning the dinosaur to them. As if it was going to really work, but it was still cute to see and Pet readjusted herself on the massive limb to watch the unfolding scene. "Come on, baby."

Grant extended the collection of leaf laden branches to the grazing animal. It growled, sending the three people in slight recoil. Pet snorted back at the dinosaur rather than flinch. Within moments, the Brachiosaur leaned in and took hold of the offered branch.

It almost took Grant with it when tugging on it. "I'm not letting go!" Every time the animal pulled back, so did the man. Eventually it gave up and allowed itself to be brought closer to the excited people. It was now close enough to pet, Grant and Tim quick to do so.

Pet laughed. "Looks like you got yourself a new friend, Dr. Grant."

"So it seems" he chuckled back excitedly. He was like a kid on Christmas Day playing with his favorite toy.

Tim pointed at the animal's head where its nostrils where. "Looks like it has a cold."

Grant nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Maybe."

The three people were so overcome by the dinosaur that they didn't notice Pet looking a bit upset. She frowned at seeing the dinosaur sick and knew exactly how it felt. It wasn't just a cold the creature had, but something potentially life threatening.

Lexi was starting to move in closer to the dinosaur, her still unsure about it. "Can I touch it?"

"Sure" Grant answered, caressing the tip of its snout.

Stretching, Pet answered. "Go ahead. It wont hurt you. They're quiet friendly, really."

"Just think of it as a kind of big cow" he man added. He smiled to the hybrid, noticing something off in her saddened blue green eyes.

Lex inched in a little closer. "I like cows." Though this wasn't a cow and far, far from it.

Its head, alone, was the size of a cow and its neck as long as an apartment building was high. Yeah, this was definitely no cow. When she reached out to touch it, the creature moaned in what Pet could identify as pain and reared its head back. What happened next took everyone by surprise when it proceeded to sneeze all over Lex. Some of it landed on Pet, but that didn't stop her from busting out in laughter. This wasn't the worst she had had happen to her as she distinctly remembered the time a sick lioness at the zoo in Kenya threw up on her. Now that was horrific.

After Tim overcame his own fit of laughter, he called out to the dinosaur, "God bless you!"

The teenage girl couldn't move. It was as though she had become petrified in stone with her hand still outstretched as streams of snot oozed from all over her. She felt like she was going to be sick and whimpered. If this was any sign of how the rest of the day was going to do, she was sure it was going to be a bad day.

* * *

**Hopefully I can get the rest of the chapters written to bridge between here and the last 3 chapters I already have written and get it all posted.**


	38. Life Will Find A Way

**38 - Life Will Find A Way**

Out of the tree the four descended and finally, back onto solid ground. Grant couldn't be more happier and neither could Tim. When Lex was offered assistance in her downward venturing, she refused any and all help. Mostly because she was still bitter about being bathed in Brachiosaur snot first thing in the morning.

Pet was still giggling about it, never mind her being partially subjected to the same treatment. "This sort of reminds me of that time I accidently spilt cooking oil all over the place... and on me. Who knew the handle to the pot was going to break off the same time I was going to start straining the oil..."

Lexi grumbled. "I'd rather be covered in cooking oil that...this!" She grimaced, trying not to think about what she must look like at that particular moment. The teen tried to wipe as much of it off her as she could off her arms, only to find it oozing between her fingers in the process. "Yuck." 

"Great" Tim blurted. "Now she'll never try anything new. She'll just sit in her room, never come out and play on her computer."

Lexi snapped back, "I'm a hacker!"

"That's what I said. You're a nerd."

Pet sighed, shaking her head. She was so glad she was an only child. There was nothing to envy when it came to sibling rivalry. The two squabbling kids continued ahead, paying Grant no mind or his discovery. Pet did, however, and stopped to back peddle to his location. "Hey kids!" The hybrid waved over the two, pausing in their arguing to look to the calling young woman.

Lex and Tim rushed to the tree root system to find Grant knelt down over what remained of hatched eggs. He tenderly picked one up and held it out for Pet to see. As if she couldn't see the others laying at his feet. "You know what this is?" The kids knelt down on the other side of the root to observe the two people and to see what the excitement was about.

She looked from the egg shell and to the man. "Yeah, its an egg."

"Its a dinosaur egg" he stated breathlessly. His amazed expression was priceless. Guess Pet wasn't seeing what the excitement was about a bunch of...wait a minute. Ah shit. "The dinosaurs are breeding." He spoke the words before she could even open her mouth to say the same thing.

It didn't make any sense. Pet picked one up and began to study it. Tim took the shell from the much older man and began to look it as well. "But, Grandpa said all the dinosaurs were girls."

Pet interrupted. "Were supposed to be girls, anyway..."

She got up to follow several tiny tracks leading away from the next nestled at the base of the tree. She blanked out what was being said in exchange for focusing on her own thoughts. Something was right here. How many more dinosaur nests were there out there? What other species had managed to do the same thing? One T-Rex was enough. She didn't want to imagine a second, third or more for that matter.

The tiny tracks continued in a group pattern and disappeared into the overgrowth of the tree line. "Malcolm was right. Life will find a way."

He set down the second shell he'd been analyzing and stood up, approaching the hybrid. "Veronica..." At first, Pet didn't immediately register the man speaking to her. Her new name still sounded so alien to her. "Veronica!"

She snapped back to reality to stare wide eyed at the man. "Yeah, what?"

"Did you know about that? That this could happen?" He pointed to the nest.

"What?" She stared blankly at him, to the nest and back to him. "No, no I didn't. I mean, I get the whole frog DNA and sex change theory, but that was taken into thought when the DNA was merged to fill in the gaps."

"How many more of these nests are there?" The man sounded a bit demanding as well as shaken.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? This wasn't even supposed to happen!"

He wanted to argue with the young woman, but figured she knew about as much as he did at that particular moment. "Alright, fine. Do you at least know what species that is?"

Pet shrugged. "My best guess, something from the Ankylosaurinae subfamily? I could be wrong, though. I've only dealt with adults, not young, since being here."

Lexi grew uneasy. "What's an Anky...whatever you just said?"

Grant answered, trying to keep a tether on his growing frustration. "Its an herbivore, Lex. Nothing to worry about."

"Oh."

The hybrid glanced around them. "Whatever it is, though, this is obviously its territory and personally, I don't want to stick around to find out what laid those eggs." She turned and left, continuing in the direction they had been doing in. "I'd suggest keeping up."

Roughly an hour later, Pet stopped and motioned for the other three to remain quiet. Grant studied her, daring her to make mention of hearing or sensing danger. "Water. I hear water." She began to shuffle to the source of the sound. The other three followed behind her, not wanting to chance getting lost. She collapsed to her knees by a creek and dipped her hands in the cool, rushing water.

"How safe is that to drink?" Grant debated on doing the same, but didn't want to chance getting sick from a bacteria. This was foreign soil, after all.

Pet sipped the water, smiling. "It comes from a spring a few miles upstream."

"Ah."

Tim pushed by the others and joined the hybrid, drinking the refreshing liquid. Grant was still hesitant as he didn't trust anything, especially water, from an unknown source. Bad memories from an excursion in Nevada, once. Wasn't pretty and something he definitely didn't want to repeat.

Lex joined the three, but not for a drink. She hastily began washing the dried remains of Brachiosaur mucus from her arms, face and neck. She'd only been dreaming of washing off since initially getting sneezed on. Upon contact with the water, her skin became slimy again and she grimaced at the feeling of. "Gross."


	39. Surprise Field Study

**39 - Surprise Field Study**

Whine and complain. That's all Tim seemed to do as its all he had done for roughly 2 hours. Pet wanted to stick something in her ears to drown out the sound, but had nothing available. At first she thought about following a ways behind them. What good would that do? She'd end up being down wind from them and sound carried on the wind. If she decided to walk ahead of them, knowing her luck a carnivorous dinosaur would come out of nowhere and either kill one if not all of the people. Then she'd feel like crap for not keeping a better watch on them. Damned if she did, damned if she didn't. Ugh.

She sighed, enjoying at least something of the trek. The sun. It felt good against her skin and it warmed her up. The warmer she was, the better. Nights could be either cool or hot, depending, and since the storm had come through, the temperatures were slightly cooler. She didn't like being cool or anything to do with it, unless of course she was sick. In which case, bring on the air conditioning and ice packs.

"So, Veronica" Grant began, studying the woman from the corner of his eye. "How long have you been working here?"

She snorted. "Here? Four years. For John Hammond, a hell of a lot longer."

"Really?" He narrowed his gaze down on her. "You don't look to be that old. How old are you, anyway?"

"Uh...18 in human years. 19, soon. As far as raptor goes, no idea. I know its 7 years for every 1 human year for a dog, but don't have the slightest idea what it'd be for a raptor. For all I know, I could be some old woman in their age."

The man chuckled. "You like working here?"

"Yeah. Beats the work I had to do in Kenya. There, it was all about chasing and tagging gazelle, zebra...wrestle a croc or two... track down an animal that had somehow managed to escape its enclosure." She brought a hand to her scarred shoulder when remembering her tussle with the leopard.

Lex spoke up. "I'd think here would be a lot more dangerous."

"It can be. There are so many more safety protocols-" Pet stopped, snorting and shaking her head. "Well, were safety protocols in place..." She hissed and resumed her strides. "Only thing I don't like about here is the humidity. Wreaks havoc with molting and makes it hard to breathe, sometimes."

The group emerged from the patch of trees to find a dirt road cut through a grassy field. "Where does this lead?" The scientist pointed to it, looking at Pet for an answer.

"Its an access road the game wardens use."

"Where will it take us if we follow it?"

Pet shook her head and brought a hand to her eyes to shield them against the sun. "I wouldn't suggest it, honestly. Following it will take us the long way to where we want to go. Yeah sure it'll tie in to the main road, eventually, but it'll also take us through the Dilophosaurus section." The man sighed in discouragement. "I say our best bet is to cut through the field and go over that rise over there." She pointed to a large hill in the distance, looking a bit unwelcoming for travel.

"Right. Come on, kids. This way." He motioned for children to follow and they did, dragging their feet in exhaustion. Up a hill they trudged, their legs aching in protest to the traveling up the steep incline. Grant tossed a backwards over shoulder glance to Tim, dragging behind the group a little bit. "Come on, Tim. Keep up."

The boy grumbled. "I'm tired. I'm hot."

Pet repositioned herself to help aide the boy by gently nudging him forward. "I'd say the visitor's center is just a mile..." he panted, feeling the weight of the previous night's and thus far travel. He always thought himself in decent shape, given the constantly lifting of fossils of different sizes and weights as well as the constant walking to and from throughout his excavations. But this. This was something entirely different and his body was quick to tell him he wasn't cut out for this. Panting again, he continued. "Just over that rise...Just keep-" His voice trailed off when seeing a formation of something break into view over the next hill. They were bipeds and fast. At first he though velociraptor. No, the way they moved was all wrong. These were different. "What is that?"

Pet sprinted to join the man, curious to know what it was he was seeing. "Oh wow."

Grant motioned to Tim to join him, too, snapping his fingers in excitement. "Tim, can you tell me what they are?"

The boy watched the running animals, taking in every detail he could make out of them. "They're, uh," Dang it, what where they? It was right there. The word was right there! Why couldn't he think of it? "Gal, uh...Gal...Gallimimus!"

Lexi side stepped closer to the scientist for cover should she need it. "Are those meat-eating? Uh, meat-asauruses?"

Pet blurted, "Yes," just to tease the girl's constant paranoia of carnivorous dinosaurs. Especially when using stupid terminologies like she was.

"No" Grant snapped out, hoping it'd reassure the girl. She'd already been through enough and didn't need more added onto it. The longer he watched the Gallimimus stampede through the vast field, the more lost he became in studying them as a professional. "Look at the wheeling. Uniform direction changes, just like a flock of birds evading a predator."

Maybe he nor the kids actually thought on the evading a predator part, but Pet did. For a mass amount of animals to be running as fervently as these were, something had to have spooked them. But what? And where was it? "Uh, Dr. perhaps we should go. I don't want to find out what spooked them."

The thundering of the medium dinosaur's many feet grew louder the closer they got to the four people. Tim's awe struck smile quickly shifted to borderline horror. "They're flocking this way."

He and Lexi turned on a heel and began running from the still idle paleontologist and hybrid, watching the stampede. Only when they were feet from them did Grant and Pet follow suit after the children. The hybrid had a bit of an advantage as she raced past the kids. They might've been running from the stampede, but she was running from whatever it was that had potentially scared them and make an appearance next.

The ground vibrated beneath their feet and the shrieking of the dinosaurs fill their ears. If this wasn't a good enough field observation of the animals for Grant then Pet was clueless on what would suffice. Up ahead was a fallen tree trunk, Pet jumping over it and taking cover behind it. She waved the others to join her and the did, the older man trying to shield them from danger.

Once the last of the Gallimimus had cleared the fallen tree, the four crawled underneath it to take cover from the other side. Their hearts were racing as fast as the herd had been traveling, them still able to feel the vibrations in the ground. It was an amazing site, until the moment was broken by an all to familiar roar piercing the air.

The Tyrannosaur erupted through the trees and into the herd of Gallimimus, scattering them in all different directions from the fearsome predator. One tripped in its scurrying to get away, the T-Rex lunging for it. Bones of the smaller animal snapped against the strength of the sharp toothed jaws tearing into it.

"Look at how it eats." The scientist was back to doing an analysis of the creatures, Lex staring at him as though he had momentarily lost his mind.

Pet poised herself for any defensive attacks she'd need to act on should the Rex's attention find the four people. "Run, get out of here" she growled to her companions.

Tim was too amazed to even listen to what was being said. "Look at how much blood." The boy was quickly dragged from the tree and away from the nightmarish sight, Pet keeping an eye on the Rex.

Slowly so as not to draw immediate attention to them, the four took for cover amongst the undergrowth and shrubbery. The hybrid kept a keen eye and an alert ear open for possible danger until convinced they were well out of harm's way.

She barked a snort in annoyance at the man and his reckless actions. "Learn anything from your little field studies, Dr. Grant?"

He could hear her sarcasm and didn't quiet appreciate it. He wanted to argue with her. Wanted to justify his reasons for wanting to observe the animals in an unhindered environment. He knew it'd be no use. After being with Ellie as long as he had, he'd come to learn that arguing with a woman would get no where fast. They wouldn't stop and would only keep going until they'd won the argument. No, he'd leave this alone. This wasn't the time nor place to argue.


	40. The Perimeter Fence

**My apologies for taking so long to get more stuff posted. It's been hectic here between a sick kiddie and my profile page being inaccessible for 3 days due to some error code 503. But, here's what I managed to get written up and finished in the meantime.**

* * *

**40 - The Perimeter Fence**

"Look, there it is!" Lexi pointed to the visitor center lying in the distance below them.

Grant huffed a smile and looked to Tim excitedly cheering next to him. Pet was quick to put a stop to his celebrating. "Shh! There's no telling what is out there and the last thing any of us need is to be found. So keep your voice down."

"Right. Sorry," the little boy mumbled, hanging his head low.

The much older man patted him on the shoulder in comfort. "Its no worries, Tim. In just a few minutes, we'll be at the visitor center and you can celebrate to your heart's content." That brought something of Tim's smile back as he beamed at the scientist.

"Come on" Pet urged, trudging down the hill. "Watch your step. It's a bit steep."

* * *

Out into the unknown Muldoon and Ellie went, the warden keeping his gun close at hand. Steadily, he lead them away from the emergency bunker and past the raptor pen. That's when they saw it. The once electrified fencing running the top perimeter of the pen was destroyed and undoubtedly by the highly intelligent creatures the fencing was meant to keep caged. His blue eyes drifted to the loose dirty ground beneath him to find 4 sets of tracks leading away from the pen and into the forest undergrowth. This was not good at all.

"Oh God." Even Ellie could tell something wasn't right and looked horrifically to the warden.

Muldoon became angered. "The shutdown must've turned off all the fences. Damn it, even Nedry knew better than to mess with the Raptor Pen." He slid off his signature safari hat in a moment of silence for the pen workers and anyone else subjected to the carnivore's wrath. "Come on, this way." He slid his hat back on and stood up, motioning for Ellie to stay close.

Cautiously they tip toed into the bit of forest growth. Their attempt at silent steps only echoed the hauntingly quiet, humid filled air as the soft dirt became littered with fallen leaves. Crunch after leafy crunch. There was no way of being completely quiet, at this point. Every sound the two heard, they would turn to look for the source. It was just birds, startled by the two people. Or was it just because of the two people?

Ellie side stepped to a fallen palm tree, squinting her eyes to focus through the wafts of steam lingering in the foliage. She heaved a sigh of great relief and turned to face her male companion. "I can see the shed from here." But his attention was elsewhere. She watched him raise his rifle and was startled by this. "We can make it if we run."

"No. We can't." And they couldn't. He furrowed beneath his hat and slimmed his gaze down on a barely noticeable golden yellow eye staring at the both of them through shrubbery.

Ellie felt her heart start to race faster, as if it couldn't get any faster already, and breathlessly questioned, "Why not?" She could feel the hair on the back of her neck start to stand on end and a gut feeling she didn't want to see what the warden was looking at. Everything about this man's demeanor had quickly changed and she was unnerved by it.

"Because we're being hunted" Muldoon answered, daring to not blink for fear of loosing eye contact with the creature should it move. "In the bushes. Straight ahead." He could hear the woman's heavy breathing and knew the unrestrained pack hunters could too. "Run. Towards the shed." He took a step closer to the wood line. "I've got her." Why was Ellie still standing there? He'd told her to go to the shed. "Go. Now!"

Not needing to be told again, the woman took off in an adrenaline fueled run towards the shed, jumping over trees in the process.

* * *

Large, metal support posts came more so into sight the further up a washed out incline Pet and her exhausted traveling companions went. "Thank goodness, we're finally here" Tim wheezed out, panting for breath. The last bit of the trail was more of a climbing excursion than a hike.

Pet's attention went to the status lights, first, her seeing them off. "Looks like the fence is inoperable."

Grant wasn't paying attention to the status lights, but the warning sign displaying 10,00 volts in bold, black lettering. "Only one way to find out for sure."

He picked up a stick laying on the ground and climbed the concrete foundation for the perimeter fence. Checking for himself, he finally gave the status lights a passing glance for safe measure. Here goes nothing. He tossed the stick onto the fence to find nothing happening. Perhaps it was inoperable.

Grant turned and shrugged at the two kids and impatient hybrid. "I guess that means the power is off."

Pet snorted. "Did your doctorate tell you that or maybe common sense? Could it be-"

"Enough" Grant barked out, glaring at the raptor eyed hybrid.

He shook his head and grumbled under his breath. He closed the distance between him and the fence and reached out to take the chest high cables in his hands. He screamed and his body convulsed, sending the other 3 people into a panic attack.

Their screams were loud and filled the air. After a few more moments, Grant stopped in his yelling to deviously smile over his shoulder. There was something shameless in his eye and Pet snorted a shriek in anger. "Bastard."

Lexi shook her head in disapproval. "That's not funny."

Tim giggled. "That was great."

Pet crossed her clawed hands over her chest and growled, "Don't encourage him." Roaring of the Tyrannosaur echoed throughout the gorge stretching alongside the visitor center. "Oh shi-" Pet started to say, Grant interrupting.

"Come on, come on!" Grant helped Tim climb up the wall as Lexi raced past the two to get a head start.

The hybrid leapt up onto the foundation and too began scaling the cable fencing, wincing at the discomfort of the wires pressing into the balls of her feet. Though she greatly hated shoes, this would be one of the few times she'd actually welcome wearing them. Gradually they climbed, occasionally plucking bits of palm tree leaves and other plant life from the wires if it was in their way.

Pet had to stop at one point to massage her feet, one foot at a time to relieve some of the discomfort. "You okay over there, Veronica?" The hybrid glanced up and to the side to see the scientist watch her in question.

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Come on. Keep going."

Up and over the fence the group went, hearts filling with hope the closer they got to the ground.

Ready to get off the cables, Pet chose to leap down the rest of the 12 feet of being shy from the ground and fell to her knees. The landing hurt a little bit more than she was expecting, given her feet being extremely sore, now. Grant chose to continue taking his time downwards as safely as possible.

Buzzing. What was buzzing? "Oh no" Pet whispered to herself and quickly spun around to stare at the source of the foreboding sound. "Uh guys..."

Tim attempted to hurry and in trying to quicken his climb down, lost his footing. He screamed in fear and tightly clung onto the table with all his might. At his height, he knew he'd been in for a painful landing if he let go. Pet's eyes widened in horror. "What are you doing? Get down from there! Come on, don't stop! The fence is getting ready to power up! Get down!"

Grant and Lexi ran at the fence, calling to the boy. "You're gonna have to jump!"

"You crazy?" Tim shot a confused and fear stricken glare at the people on the ground. "I'm not gonna jump!"

Pet barked a screech. "Either jump or hurry it the hell up and get down!"

Grant mumbled to her, "You're not helping."

Lexi cried out. "Do what Dr. Grant says!"

"I'm going to count to three! One, two, three!" Still Tim desperately held onto the cables. "I'm coming up to get you!" Both girls grabbed onto the man to stop him, knowing it was dangerous. "I've got to get Tim!" He twisted out of their clutches and reached for the fence.

Pet raged. "You'll get your ass electrocuted if you do!"

Tim whimpered and started to cry. He couldn't stay up there, especially hearing how someone was going to risk their life to save him. Again. "Okay. I'm going to count to three."

"One...Two..." ZAP!

A strong electric current running through the lines hit the boy and sent him flying backwards from a dizzying height. Pet shrieked out and collided with Grant as they both ran to catch him. Both people fell to the ground in a cloud of dust from Tim's inertia's impact, the older man gasping back for the air knocking from his lungs. Pet coughed and tugged her leg out from under the man's.

Tim! Blocking out Lexi's cries for her little brother, Grant began checking over the boy. He was unconscious. No. "He's not breathing..." The scientist immediately began CPR and managed to successfully revive him after what felt like an eternity of chest compressions and mouth to mouth

The boy coughed, "Three" much to the delight of the relieved people.


	41. In Search of Others

**Okay so I'm going a bit out of order on a sequence of events with this chapter. This chapter I'd written a long time ago and didn't have the heart to change it, seeing how it'd put a kink in how later events with Pet followed up. Hopefully its not too bad, as its not that far off from the events in the movie. Enjoy!**

* * *

**41 - In Search For the Others**

Closer and closer Muldoon crept to the spying raptor until roughly 20 feet away. By now, he knew it had realized it was spotted as it disappeared out of sight. If it wasn't for the swaying of plant life in its wake, he'd have lost it. "Like hell you do." He continued after it. "I've spent too much time around you little shits..." He slowly exhaled and just as slowly, inhaled. He could feel the palms of his hands start to sweat and hear his pulse in his ears. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, he was afraid. "Even if it means a bullet to your eye, I'll see each of you dead before letting you get away." He crouched down, waiting for the foliage to stop moving before proceeding any further. "Damn it, Pet. Where are you when I need you?"

* * *

Pet had never been so relieved to be inside the visitor's center as she was now. Grant called out, "Hello?" He hoped someone was still around and that by chance they hadn't left or worse, become prey to a hungry dinosaur. Everything was quiet. A little too quiet. "Where would everyone be, right now?"

Pet glanced around the lobby and to the stairs. "Control room, perhaps? It'd make sense..." She was about to go up the stairs, but stopped when Grant took the kids to the dining hall.

He trudged over a table and gently sat Tim down on top of it. "Okay. I'm gonna have to find the others. Get you to a doctor." He visually examined the roughed up and bloodied boy, frowning. "Lex, you look after Tim?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

Grant took one last look at the little boy and felt heartbroken. Not wanting to show it, he forced a smile and patted Tim on the head. "Your hair is all sticking up. Big Tim, the human piece of toast." Tim could see the man's mouth moving, but couldn't hear any words. All he could hear was a violent ringing in his ears. A ringing that echoed his entire body in tingles and the occasional twitch. "I'll be back soon."

He and Pet turned and left the way they had come, back out into the lobby. "We should split up and search the compound grounds...I'll go check outside."

The scientist didn't like the thought of roaming around an unsecured island with dinosaurs on it without the hybrid nearby, given her ability to efficiently fight them, but knew it was probably best. At least if they split up, more ground could be covered. He nodded. "Alright."

The man turned to leave, but was stopped by the hybrid. "Alan..." She bit at her lips, nervous about addressing the man by his first name.

He heard this and paused to face the addressing young woman, curious yet thrown off. "Yeah, what?"

Knowing she would probably never get another chance like this, she continued. "I may never see you again after this and in light of everything, I want to say thank you." She cupped his cheek with her clawed hand and drew him in for a kiss.

Grant was surprised by this and wasn't sure how to react as he felt the kiss deepen. After several moments of embracing the other, they drew away and stared at the other in mutual confusion. Did that really just happen?

Pet could feel her face heat up with fluster and she timidly looked away. "Yeah, so... okay..."

Grant tried to push the event from his mind, but found it difficult. "Split up..." The hybrid nodded and jotted down the hallway, the man calling out, "Be careful, Nica."

She stopped in her tracks, appalled and met his warm gaze, smiling. "You, too, Alan." With a final smile to the other, they parted and went their different directions.

He went out the front door as she went out the back, via the employee's only backdoor. She glanced around and sniffed the air, hoping to at least pick up a scent that would lead her to the others. She frowned, finding nothing and sprinted off in the direction of the emergency shelter, hoping she would find someone there. The hybrid could see it through the trees and undergrowth, but paused when she heard it; gun fire and it was extremely close. She wasn't the only one who heard it for Ellie, collapsed and crying on the ground, jumped to her feet in being startled.

Pet's eyes widened in horror, fearing the worst for whoever it was behind the gun and tore off into a run in the direction she heard the shot fired in. The shrills of a raptor and the painful screams from who she could identify as Muldoon filled her ears, causing the hybrid to become enraged. Not far off the dirt path were the two, the man pinned beneath the raptor clawing at him. Pet leapt onto a nearby fallen tree limb and lunged off it, onto the attacking raptor. Both tumbled to the ground and rolled over the other in a tangle of claws. The creature screeched out in pain as Pet dug her sickle claws into its tough flesh and bit at its neck. Frantically, the raptor scrambled to its feet and ran back into the undergrowth.

Nearby, Pet saw the gun and picked it up, aiming it at the raptor she could see in the bushes and fired. She wasn't sure if she hit it or not, but heard a sharp screeching bark as it disappeared within the overgrowth. The hybrid waited a few seconds to see if they would come back and after seeing they weren't, tossed the gun aside to solely focus on the injured man. She could see his left shoulder and right hip bloodied as well as scratches running down his face, Pet further angered. Her mind went blank with panic, momentarily forgetting her emergency first aide training, and whimpered.

"It's okay, Robert, I'm right here..." Pet tried to calm herself down and re-collect her thoughts, knowing she needed to do something to help the man. She muttered to herself, "C'mon, Pet, keep it together." She needed to get first aide supplies, but knew leaving him unattended wasn't a good idea. Trying to steady her hands, Pet covered the bite with her hands the best she could in hopes of stopping the bleeding. Tears ran from her eyes, the hybrid extremely fearful of loosing her friend.

Trotting down the trail was Ellie, her hearing the painful moans and crying and decided to investigate. She gasped when she saw the two and rushed to join them, willing to provide whatever aide she could. "What happened?"

Pet choked out, "Raptors" and readjusted her hands to better apply pressure to the man's mauled shoulder. "I need you to go to the Jeep parked behind the visitor's center and get the first aide kit and jug of water out of the left metal, supply can." Ellie nodded and scampered away, momentarily forgetting about the raptors or getting back to the emergency bunker. Pet wiped her face on her arm and continued to the barely conscious man. "C'mon Robert. Stay with me, stay with me!"

Time seemed to slow to an almost creep in the meantime until Ellie returned with the requested items. "Is he going to be alright?"

Pet sniffed back her sobs and nodded frantically. "I think so. I just need to stop this bleeding, first. Open the water and everything in the kit...bandages, gauze, tape, I don't care." The hybrid ripped open the man's shirt to better access the injury and reached for the gallon jug of water.

Muldoon groaned, "Don't fucking touch me."

"Oh shut up and quit your bitching." The hybrid kept her attention on her task while telling Ellie, "Get some morphine ready. There's a small bottle of it and a syringe in the grey snap case in the kit." Pet peeled off the jug's cap and poured water onto a bundle of gauze in her hand, gently pressing it onto the wound.

Muldoon cried behind clenched as he grabbed at her arm to pull it away from him. "Son of a bitch!"

The hybrid jerked her arm out of the man's much weaker grasp and in annoyance, pinned his arm down with a clawed foot. "Don't fight me, Robert, I'm trying to help you."

She continued to wash off the wound, Ellie asking, "Please tell me you've seen Alan and the kids."

Pet nodded her head. "Yeah, the kids are inside the visitor center, resting. Grant _was_ inside as well, looking for everyone else."

Ellie got to her feet, worry etched in her face. "I'm going to go find him." She ran back down the trail and to the visitor's center, calling out, "Alan?" The woman ran around the outside of the building and froze when she heard the faint voice of someone calling out as well. Crawling up and topping a slight incline, Ellie saw her closest friend. "Run" she muttered to herself and not hesitating any further, ran to the man and collided with him in an embrace of relief.

Grant tightly held the woman against him, afraid he'd loose her should he let her go. "Thank God, you're alive." He met her gaze and caressed her tear streaked face. "Where are the others?"

"John and Ian are in the emergency bunker." She panted and wrapped her arms around his neck. "The kids?"

"Safe inside the main building."


	42. Reunion

**42 - Reunion**

Satisfied the bite wound wasn't going to get any more cleaner, Pet took a clean padded bandage and placed it over a portion of the bite. The morphine seemed to have set in, for the most part, as the man was now more relaxed and not too hard to handle. She still took caution in how she handled him so as not to cause further discomfort and finished covering the bite.

Pet then took a roll of surgical tape and secured the bandages in place, followed by tying gauze wrapping over the entire packing. She looked to his face and frowned as she started to wash off the slashes. Once cleaned off, she was slightly relieved to see they weren't as bad as she previously thought.

His lazy gaze watched her and he reached up, caressing her cheek and hoarsely whispering, "You should have let her finish me off."

Pet took his hand in hers and she shook her head. "Only I get that privilege."

"Brat" he choked out.

The hybrid huffed a laugh in relief. "Now the hard part. I need to get you back to the visitor center." Muldoon grimaced and cried out, again, when allowing the girl to help him to his feet.

Carefully and slowly, the two proceeded to the visitor center, the hybrid pausing when she heard Hammond calling after her. She glanced back over her shoulder to see the stress worn man supporting Ian, her noticing him injured as well. Hammond spoke. "I was worried something had happened to you."

The older man went over to the battered Jeep and leaned Ian against it. Pet spoke. "It's been an experience, that's for sure."

Hammond continued. "I called for the helicopter. It should be here any minute now."

"Excellent. Let's get everyone loaded up and out of here, then. Here, help me." Ian nodded to Hammond to show he would be alright for the most part as Muldoon now leaned against the park CO. Pet crawled into the back of the Jeep and lifted the back seats from their laying down position to allow more room for the others. Seeing how the supply cans would be in the way, the hybrid called out, "Watch out" and forcefully kicked a few times to knock them off the sides of the vehicle.

Using the side of the Jeep to lean on, Ian went around to the passenger side, opening the door the best he could. Meanwhile, Hammond and Pet assisted the game warden into the back seat followed by helping Ian, next. Hammond looked to the hybrid. "Pull the vehicle around to the front. I'm going to try and find the others."

He was about to go inside when Pet stopped him. "You drive, I'll find the others. With everything that's been going on, today, who knows what'll happen next."

She darted inside the building to hear crashing around as well as the shrieks and shrills of raptors. Hastily, Pet ran to the source of the sound to see Grant, Ellie and the two kids be corralled by two raptors. She growled her own shrill and charged at one of the raptors, about to lunge at the group when she saw it; the Rex. Into the central lobby it emerged, roaring and catching of the raptors in its powerful jaws.

The group of people looked up, almost mesmerized by the perfect timing of the Rex. It didn't take long, though, for the Rex to notice the people and was about to go for them when the second raptor attacked it. Pet saw this as an opportunity and charged at the Rex, too, digging her sickle claws into its hip.

Grant's eyes widened in horror when he saw this and called out to the hybrid. "Veronica, come on!"

The Rex grabbed the raptor's tail and pulled the smaller dinosaur off its back, biting down on it before tossing it to the side. The hybrid called out, "Go, get out of here! I'll be right behind you!"

The man watched the hybrid battle the Rex as Ellie scooped up Tim and ran for the door. Grant and Lexi followed, them seeing the Jeep pull around to the front. They loaded into it, being careful to not further hurt the injured, Grant stating, "After careful consideration, I've decided not to endorse your park."

Hammond scoffed. "So have I." Tossing the Jeep into gear, Hammond tore off down the dirt road, eager to get as much distance between them and the Rex as possible.

In the back seat, Ian was confused. "W-Where's the other girl?" A painful, blood curdling scream sounded from within the visitor center, getting the attention of everyone in the Jeep.

The older man spoke. "I can't risk the safety of everyone still alive for one person." The words burned Hammond to say, and clenched his jaw in anger.

Grant looked back to the visitor center, watching it become smaller the further they proceeded down the road. He shook his head. "No, no we can't just leave her. She helped save us!"

Hammond tossed the vehicle into third gear, frowning. "She'd be dead, anyway, if she left the island. InGen would see to it. When I called for the helicopter, I was informed that should she be removed from the island, she would be destroyed upon landing."

Ellie could see her close friend's sadness consume his features as he turned away from the now disappearing visitor center to slouch in the seat. She laid a hand on his arm and tried to smile reassuringly, but knew it was no good.

Pet stumbled through the visitor center main doors, holding a gash running down the length of her left side, and frantically looked around for the others. Where were they? Surely they didn't leave her. She remembered Hammond mentioning the helicopters were on their way and knew, if anything, that's where the others would be. Due to her injury she wasn't able to run as fast as she normally could when given the chance too, but still pushed herself regardless.


	43. Left Behind

**Here's the last chapter following along with the Jurassic Park movie but that's not all! I have A LOT more chapters coming up going over Pet and what InGen has planned for her. And its not pretty.**

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**43 - Left Behind **

Ahead of them, they could see the helicopter descend through the tree tops and land on the helipad. Hammond pulled up to the landing pad and crawled out of the Jeep, pausing before getting in the aircraft to look back in regret. He stood there, tightly clutching his cane and sighed. Such a grand dream it had been to imagine everything Jurassic Park could've been, but at the same time, was it worth it? The loss of lives? Loosing _her?_

Grant came up behind him and although understanding the man's sadness, urged him into the helicopter. Everyone quickly situated themselves, being mindful of the injured, as the helicopter slowly lifted off. Hammond kept his gaze outside the window, still expecting to see Pet come into view, until the helipad couldn't be seen anymore.

Hearing the rotors of the helicopter, Pet ran to the landing pad just in time to see it disappear over the ridge. Her heart sunk and she heavily sat down on the concrete, tears pooling behind the levees of her eyelids. They left her. After all she had done for them through everything, she was abandoned. She whimpered and broke down into sobs, doubling over and releasing a painful shrill. How could they? _Why_ would they?

Inside the helicopter, Hammond stared at his cane, frowning. He couldn't take his eyes off the tiny mosquito within the fossilized amber and heaved a quivering sigh behind his own threatening tears. His gaze then fell on Muldoon, who had succumbed to the morphine as soon as he was loaded into the Jeep, and knew he wasn't going to be happy about the decision when he woke up.

Hammond whispered to himself, eyes back on his cane, "I'm sorry, Pet. Its for the best, love."

For twenty minutes, Hammond had allowed himself to be lost in his quiet sorrows and regrets to what had happened. The people he had known, who had trusted him to see to their well being and he failed them. He failed her. Pet. He closed his tear heavy blue eyes and buried his face in his hand.

Grant quietly spoke, his voice just loud enough for others to hear without waking the kids. "She's quiet a piece of work, your girl."

Hammond lifted his head to observe the man through blurry vision. "Pardon?"

"Your hybrid. She saved us, you know. From the T-Rex after is first got loose. She even helped us get back to the visitor center."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. She, uh, she's unique." The solemn man gazed out of the window.

"I hope you don't mind, but I gave her a name." Grant watched the frowning man's expression uplift to sheer bafflement. "She mentioned always wanting one, and seeing how she had just saved the kids and I, I figured why not."

Hammond's bottom lip started to tremble beneath his white beard. "And? What did you name her?"

"Veronica Renee. She said she wanted a name with the initials V and R for Veloci and Raptor as well as a name with a nick name within in. So Nica it was." The scientist watched the much older man shatter to emotional pieces as he sobbed a bit louder now.

After a few minutes, he managed to pull himself together and wiped at his face with a handkerchief. "She idolized you. Grew up watching your special on TV every week for quiet some time. Even then, after they were done and over with, she would watch the reruns. Every since a little girl, she saw you as a hero." Hammond sniffed back a sob and dabbed at his nose. "I thought it was just a kid's infatuation until later on when she was older. Then I saw it was something else." His sparkling blue eyes locked on with the other man's speechless ones. "She was in love with you, Dr. Grant, and it doesn't surprise me that she risked her life for you." Ellie jaw fell open when studying her very good friend. She could see something shift in his eyes from bewilderment to an almost unspeakable sadness. "I assure you, my lad, you naming her was probably the best thing you ever could've done for her."

Grant's thoughts instantly went back to that night in the tree. He remembered her mentioning how she always wanted to be named by someone who meant something to her. At that time, he thought nothing of his nice gesture as being anything more than a simple thank you for what she'd done to save him and the kids. Now, after hearing what Hammond had to say and how everything played out, it made sense. He ignored the signs, then, but it all made sense. It was his turn to tear up, now, as he refused to look Ellie in the eye. In the time he'd spent around the hybrid, he had unintentionally grown fond of her and fascinated with her.

Half an hour later, the helicopter touched down and sure enough, to Hammond's expectations, there waited someone. A man, stocky and slightly bald, questioned. "Where is the girl?" In his hands was a metal case, it obvious within it was a gun of a sorts.

Hammond glared hatefully at the man, answering "She didn't make it. She fell victim to the Rex" and strode past him, disappearing behind the double doors of the small, private airport terminal.

The short stocky man gazed out to the horizon and squared his eyes. "We'll see about that."

* * *

**And so begins my 'Survival' chapters. Content I've had written out for years...since 2010, I think...**


	44. A Business Proposition

**Fixed a glaring problem with the original of this chapter. Surprised I didn't notice it sooner. I feel sort of stupid for not before posting it...**

* * *

**44 - A Business Proposition**

One and a half weeks later...

Off in the distance of the Kenyan savanna, a dust cloud followed a black Mercedes as it made its way down the winding, dirt road leading to the zoo John Hammond owned. Within minutes, it was at the employee's only access gate, it sliding open to allow the car to pass through. It continued down the narrow drive, passing by the main visitor's center and animal examination and processing offices to where the game warden shack sat, not far from the main zoo complexes.

The driver coasted to the front door and stopped, centimeters from hitting the concrete tire stop. The back passenger door opened to reveal a man in his mid 40s wearing a smoky grey suit and thin, gold framed glasses around icy blue eyes. He ran a hand through his hair, making sure it was in place, and proceeded into the office. To any other person he was just another rich business executive, but to those affiliated with InGen and John Hammond, he was Peter Ludlow. One of the higher executives of InGen.

Upon entering, laughter from 3 of the game wardens inside the office ceased. The smiles on their faces quickly sunk to expressions of shock as one of the wardens, a black man with an African accent, questioned. "Can I help you with something?"

The suited man nodded and smiled for professionalism's sake, but frowned to himself when seeing who he was looking for wasn't in the office. "Yes, I am looking for Terrence Mitchell." The black man opened his mouth to respond, but the suited man cut off any words he was about to say. "And don't bother telling me he isn't here, because I already know that. Just tell me where I can find him. Okay?"

* * *

Inside the animal examination lab and releasing the restraints on a tranquilized warthog was Terrence, him oblivious to the suited man entering the lab. The room went eerily quiet when the man entered the room, as it was known to happen, and spoke. "Ah, yes. There he is! Mr. Mitchell."

Terrence strained to look over his shoulder as he reached over the warthog to unfasten the buckles around its front hooves, recognizing the man. "Good afternoon, Mr. Ludlow." Something wasn't right to have one of the InGen top executives there and without warning. "Something I can help you with?"

The suited man, Ludlow, answered. "Yes, actually, there is. Perhaps we can talk about this in private, hmm?"

The game warden shot his partner, a man slightly younger than him, a stare. "Take care of this, will you?" Terrence strode away, joining the executive as he slid the thick leather gloves off his hands. "So what's this about?" Once outside the lab, Ludlow released a breath he had been holding and wrinkled his nose. The air outside didn't smell any better than the air inside, his gaze drifting to his left to see the animal holding pens not far away. Terrence smiled behind eyes squinting against the sun, continuing. "And that's on a good day after they've been cleaned, too."

Framed eyes shot back over to the smiling man, it puzzling Ludlow on how anyone could stand working in such a horrid smelling environment. "Yes, I'm sure. Anyway, down to business. I understand you spent some time working with I-10 HY?" Terrence arched a brow in question, Ludlow grumbling. "That..._mistake_."

"Sir, no offense, but I've worked with a lot of mistakes since coming here."

The executive's mouth drew in, him looking as though holding in a bite of food he'd rather spit out. "You might know her as Pet."

The game warden crossed his arms over his chest, cocking his head to the side. "Oh." He snorted disgustingly and shook his head. "Yeah I worked with her before. What about her?"

Ludlow could hear the contempt in the man's tone and smiled hopefully. "I take it you two weren't on the best of terms, then?"

Terrence shrugged. "She had a bit of a chip on her shoulder. I'm not exactly sure if that was from _associations_ or from genetics, but either way, I was glad to see her gone."

"I see." A devious smile twisted the executive's features. "InGen has a business proposition for you, in that case. One that could get you a nice little promotion..." He gestured around him, "Maybe land you a nice pay raise and get you out of this stench pool, at that."

What was going through this man's head and what did it have to do with Pet? "What did you have in mind?"


	45. Jurassic Graveyard

**45 - Jurassic Graveyard**

A marker pen crossed out another date on a calendar, hanging up in the Jurassic Park game warden office. It had been 12 days since the incident, the date of the occurrence being circled. She sighed and clipped the lid back on the marker, tossing it into a cup sitting where her desk was. She heavily sat down in her chair and blinked back the pools forming in her eyes as she leaned her head back against the chair. Did they abandon her or would they come back for her? She wasn't sure which the situation was, but hoped someone would come back. They would have to, eventually, considering all the equipment left behind. Not to mention the security risk the computers posed to InGen should anyone happen across them when exploring the island.

Pet frowned and sighed a quivering breath. She had never felt so alone as she had now and wiped at her teary eyes. When she was left in Kenya, at least she had a couple people there to talk to that she liked. Here, there was nothing or no one to talk to. A few days after the incident and after the island was abandoned, the dinosaurs started to die to what Pet suspected was due to the Lysine Contingency. Everywhere she went, death surrounded her.

In her exploring the island for anyone else possibly left behind, like her, she found nothing but corpses. It further depressed her, except when she saw the mauled carcass of Nedry. The sight, while rather revolting, brought a smile to her face. Oh the irony of. She still couldn't figure out why the hell he crashed the island's defenses. She could tell he was heading to the docks, which was understandable, but why be so nervous about it? The hybrid figured him a coward anyway, and this just confirmed it.

Her golden yellow eyes fell on a picture on her desk depicting her, Muldoon and Jophrey standing over her first successful solo kill; a gazelle. She took the picture in her clawed hands and forcefully slammed it, face down, onto the desk to shatter the glass. Carefully, she slid the picture out of the cracked glass and folded it up, shoving it into a pocket of her backpack.

* * *

The sound of a helicopter's rotor tearing through the still air echoed the foliage covered mountain passes of Isla Nublar as it made its way to the helipad. Terrence watched the ground become closer when landing and brought his rifle closer to his chest. He wasn't sure what to expect, but didn't want to take any chances. His eyes scanned the surroundings, expecting to see a dinosaur or a familiar face, but saw nothing. When the helicopter landed, everyone got out and rushed to the side to prepare for their mission.

Seeing how he was in charge of this mission per InGen's order, he didn't want to screw it up. Especially given the amount of money he would be receiving should the mission be a success. If the primary target was found alive, he would get $125,000. Should, by chance, the target be found dead then the awarded amount would only $75,000. It didn't make sense. Seems like something so important to InGen would offer more of a reward, dead or alive, considering the target themselves could destroy the company if discovered by the public. Either way, the rewarded amount was more than what Terrence had or would earn in a year.

He slung his rifle's shoulder strap around his neck and looked back to the team he had been given, courtesy of Ludlow. Where did he find people like these? They looked more like guerillas than game hunters and it made the man uncomfortable. Something told him to watch his back around these guys.

Feeling as though they had already wasted enough time, he stood up from where he knelt and called out. "Alright, gentlemen. Keep your eyes open. We don't know what all is out there, still, so be careful. Call out anything you see." The group of 8 men collected their bags and followed their team leader, though many of them preferred not to.

Terrence unfolded a map of the island and followed the road from the helipad leading to the visitor center. He knew if Pet were going to be anywhere it would be there. They hadn't gotten far from their starting point, though, when the stench hit them. Something large was dead nearby and it caused several people to bring their hands to their faces in repulsion. Not affected by the smell, Terrence strode through the jungle growth and to a clearing where he saw the source of the foul stench. Laying roughly 200 yards away was a dead Brachiosaur and judging by the appearance of it, it had been dead for maybe a week. His eyes scanned the valley to see there wasn't just one dead dinosaur, but several.

He swallowed an urge to be sick when the wind blew just right, shoving the smell of rotting flesh into his nose. This wasn't his first time around dead animals, but it was his first time around something dead this large and it was prominently more potent in smell. One of the other hunters in the group emerged from the overgrowth and joined Terrence, choking back his own urge to be sick. "What in the hell? And this was supposed to be a park?"

Terrence shook his head. "It's not a park, its a graveyard." He studied the gaze of the man next to him and continued. "Might as well get used to the sight and smell. Chances are, we'll be seeing more."


	46. Pet Tracks

**46 - Pet Tracks**

Pet shouldered her backpack containing medical and other supplies and left the control room. She was on her way down the hall and heading to the stairs, not paying attention until she heard it. Voices. Her eyes got large and in a rush of excitement, ran to the stairs.

Terrence could tell something bad happened in the lobby of the visitor center, seeing how what he assumed was a skeletal display was now in pieces on the floor. He called out to the exploring men, "Keep your eyes open and remember, shoot to kill any dinosaurs you see. If you see the girl, tranq her."

That voice sounded vaguely familiar as Pet stopped shy of the hallway corner to peer around it. Her eyes fell on the familiar face of Terrence Mitchell, her brow furrowing in bewilderment and shock. _Tranq_ her? Was this InGen's idea? Hammond's? She was sure the game warden was all too excited to be the one to hunt her down. The feeling of betrayal burned in her chest and she closed her eyes in sadness. She wasn't one to trust anyone, especially Hammond, and yet she had gradually allowed herself to open up to him. She had even come to have a small respect for Terrence as well, even though she couldn't stand working with him for the time she did.

Everything she had done for Hammond over the years, or at least she thought, had now come down to this. He had hired a team to come and find her and possibly kill her, lead by the one man he knew would happily get the job done. Not wanting to stick around anymore, Pet hunkered to the floor and fled the area.

"Split up" Terrence called out again. "Search every room. Miguel and Alex, check the maintenance shed." The two men, both Hispanic, nodded their heads and proceeded through the building to the employee only exit. A movement of shadows along a wall on the upper floor caught the game warden's attention, him looking upwards. "The rest of you, split up and search the rest of the compound. Radio if any of you see anything." He flexed his grip around his rifle as he strode towards the stairs, curious to know what or _who_ he saw.

Pet stopped in her tracks, remembering her backpack she had set down on the floor and was about to go back for it when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She knew she would be seen should she go back for it and figured it best to leave it. She scurried around the corner of the hall and waited there, holding her breath.

Terrence topped the stairs and paused, seeing the backpack against the wall. He went over to it and picked it up, feeling one of the straps still warm. Someone was just here. Curious, he unzipped it and started going through the contents to find granola bars, a first aide kit as well as a flashlight and extra batteries. When he unzipped one of the front pockets, he found the picture Pet had put there.

The man bit his lips together and sighed, sliding it back in the pocket and zipping it closed. He whispered to himself. "I know you're here, Pet, but where?" Terrence put the backpack on and readied his weapon, scanning the shadows for any other movement.

He dared not call after her, seeing how it would draw the attention of the other men, and continued down the hallway to a nearby office. He paused shy of the door and read the sign stating 'Park Animal Warden' on the door. Cautiously, the man approached the partially open door and paused. He kept his rifle up incase he should fall victim to a surprise attack and nudged the door open with the muzzle of it. Seeing the room dark, he flicked on the light switch to find the warden office surprisingly in order. He visually searched every feature of the office before settling his attention on a calendar hanging by desk along the far left wall.

Pet slowly glanced around the hallway corner and watched the man disappear into the room. Quietly, she crawled over to the door and peered through the hinged crack between the door and frame to see what he was doing. To her desk he tip toed and to the calendar he stopped. He ran a finger of the crossed out dates and furrowed his brow in question.

He checked his watch to see the current day left un-crossed and nodded to himself. "Just as I thought. Someone's been marking off the days."

In the hallway, Pet grimaced. After working with the game warden as long as she had, she knew he was a decent tracker and knew it was only a matter of time before she was found. Usually the hybrid was really good about covering her tracks when being hunted, but this time, the hunting party was sudden notice, which gave her no time to prepare. She saw the man turn back towards the door and darted out of sight in an effort to prevent being seen. Pet wasn't sure how much longer she could keep up the chase before getting caught and feared any worse case scenarios.

The hybrid could hear his footsteps come closer to where she knelt and took cover within a nearby admin office. She kept the door cracked just enough to watch the man come into view and hoped he would walk on past. But, much her to dismay, he didn't. Terrance paused, feeling as though he wasn't alone, and analyzed each of the four office doors. Two were locked, a third wide open and the fourth, which was closest to him, partially cracked.

Keeping a tight grip on his rifle, he neared the door and pushed it open with his boot. Though he didn't see anyone, he had a pretty good feeling Pet was there and he was right. Huddled underneath the office's desk, facing away from the door, was the terrified hybrid.

Terrance sighed and spoke in a faint whisper. "I know you're there and despite what you're thinking right now, I'm not here to hurt you." He lowered the rifle to emphasize his point and anxiously searched the hallways to make sure he was still alone for the most part. "There are others, though, that _are_ here to hurt you. In-Gen will do whatever it takes to make sure you're no longer a company threat. They hired me specifically to lure you out of hiding incase you were alive. Whatever you do you _must_ stay hidden and no matter what, do not attack anyone." He hung his head in regret. "In the meantime, I'll do what I can to keep them off your trail while I think of some way to get evidence supporting your being 'dead'." He slid off the backpack and set it down inside the office, gently closing the door behind him.


	47. Frozen Surprise

**47 – Frozen Surprise**

Downstairs and following the signs leading to the kitchen were three men all of which were disgruntled. The tallest of the men kept his gun held close to his chest and mumbled. "This is such bullshit. Why doesn't In-Gen just blow this damn island to hell with some napalm or something." He stopped at the kitchen door and glanced inside, shrugging. "If she's in there, I don't see her."

A Hispanic man, who came to the shoulders of the taller man, opened the door and motioned inside. "After you, Simon."

The third man, a scrawny blonde, answered behind a cheesy smile. "Momma always told me ladies first. So, ladies first Juan-ita!" He laughed to himself, ignoring the hateful glare from the other.

Simon glared at the blonde. "Guess that means, you Alex-is."

Swallowing nervously, the blond, Alex, adjusted his grip on his rifle and strode into the kitchen. He made sure to keep a watchful eye for any movement, calling over his shoulder, "It's clear."

Cautiously, the two others followed and each went down to a different isle to search. Being mindful of the strewn pots and pans, they searched in every cabinet and oven only to find nothing. Finally, the three exchanged uncertain expressions as they neared the freezer.

Simon looked to the blonde. "Alright, Princess, ladies first."

"Nah uh" Alex quickly exclaimed. "I went in the kitchen first." He turned his attention to the taller man. "It's someone else's turn."

All eyes turned to Juan, him frowning in dread. Not needing to be told, he trudged over to the door and un-latched it. He hesitated, a moment, before finally opening the door. It seemed clear until he stepped inside. There, to the right and laying on the floor was a raptor.

"Oh shit!" Panicking, he whipped his rifle around and started firing at the motionless form.

Both Simon and Alex leapt back and too, drew their rifles and took aim at the freezer. The taller man yelled out, "What the hell?" and almost fell over when Juan collided into him.

The Hispanic yelled out, "There's a dinosaur in there, man! A big one!"

Alex readied his rifle and looked inside the freezer to see what the other was talking about. At first glance, he could see what was so frightening about it, but when examining more, couldn't resist laughing. "You stupid ass. It's dead!"

Juan yelled back. "That's because I shot it!"

"And I guess the fact it's frozen means nothing, either, huh?"

Simon looked inside the freezer as well and shook his head, glaring at Juan. The voice of Terrence called out on their radios. "I heard gunfire! Report!"

Alex, still laughing, grabbed his radio off his pants and cued it. "Calm down, its all clear. Juan found a frozen lizard in the kitchen and got all trigger happy."

The Hispanic shot back, "Shut up!" He leaned against a kitchen counter and heaved a breath, cueing his own radio. "It was a big lizard, boss. At least an 8 footer!" 

On his side of the radio, Terrence rubbed his face with his hand and mumbled to himself, unsure of what to think. Well, he did say to shoot any dinosaurs they saw. "Idiots" he stated out loud and went down the stairs leading to the lobby.


	48. Show of Face

**48 - Show of Face**

Terrance descended down the fossil littered staircase leading to the lobby floor and glared at the people he'd come to mentally dub The Three Stooges. He stopped shy of them and arched his brow in question. "Well? Did any of you find anything other than some frozen, 8 foot lizard?"

Simon spoke. "We saw no sign of the girl."

"Were you three even really looking? She's highly intelligent and damned difficult to find, though not impossible. You have got to keep your eyes open." He sighed and rubbed his mouth with his hand. "One of you three needs to keep an eye out behind the team. What's to say she won't try and attack someone from behind?"

Juan spoke up. "That's if she's even alive. For all we know, she could be dead. I read the reports. Supposedly she got offed by a T-Rex or whatever."

Alex cut in. "Supposedly. Its not for sure, though."

"Which is why we need to be vigilant in our search, gentlemen," Terrance continued. "Now get back out there and keep looking!"

Grumbling to themselves, the three men trekked into the dinning hall. Juan choked out a cough and wove a hand in front of his face after stepping inside. "Smells like shit in here."

Simon pointed to the buffet table loaded down with food long gone rotten. "What did you expect? Rotten food."

"Smells like my sister's room." He buried his face in his shirt while holding his rifle with one hand.

Pet zipped back up her backpack after making sure everything was still in there. Even her picture. She tossed on the straps and poked her head out of the office and into the hallway to make sure everything was clear before proceeding outwards. She listened, hearing the barely audible voices of the men chatting somewhere within the building and quickly scampered down the hall. A couple turns later, she found herself at the emergency fire exit and strained her vision to look out of the narrow window. She couldn't see anyone, but that didn't mean they weren't there. There could be people hiding in the bushes beyond her view, or just under the stairs waiting. Any smart team would know to cover all exits incase the target or targets tried to escape through the back.

The hybrid nudged the door open and hesitated to listen. Nothing but birds chirping. Accepting it as a clear to proceed, she stepped out of the building and into the sun filled, island day. Quietly she shut the door and tip toed down the metal stair case and to the sidewalk, being mindful to stick to the sidewalk. Not far from the sidewalk was a tuft of grass, the hybrid taking to it and using it to hide her trail on her way into the forest.

She could hear a helicopter in the far distance and feared it carrying more people sent to hunt her down. Pet took cover under a broad leafed plant and listened as the helicopter got closer. Over the visitor center is flew, never slowing to land or circle back around. She was in the clear, for the most part and made sure to stay low when crawling away. Pet wasn't sure where she was going to go, but knew she couldn't stay anywhere near areas most likely to draw a search team.

For several days following being left behind, she debated on going to Isla Sorna and knew she could get there via one of the transport boats usually kept at the docks. That is, if they weren't taken by evacuated employees or sunk in the storm. It was at least worth a try.

Terrance returned to the office room he had figured Pet to be in only to find the door half open, versus its previously barely cracked, and the back pack gone. He was right. She had been there and heard his message. He just hoped that wherever she had taken to hiding was as far from him and the others as possible. Wherever that may be.

He could hear someone coming up behind him and glanced backwards to see a muscular black man come into view. "Did you find something, DeAndre?"

The newcomer, DeAndre, shook his head. "No. The control room is clear."

Terrance nodded. "Good." His next words were spoken slightly louder, should Pet still be in the immediate area to hear him. "I'm going to finish checking these offices to make sure." He stepped over to one of the offices with its door locked and tried the handle for show of face. "Its locked. No worries." The man grabbed his radio and cued it. "Incoming weapons fire," and flipped his rifle off safety. He aimed and fired at the lock, the door swinging open a bit.

DeAndre pushed past him and entered the room, gun armed and looked inside. Nothing. "Nothing."

Simon came over the radio. "Did you get her, boss? Did you get the bitch?"

Hearing the offensive word sent a streak of anger through the man and he clenched his jaw in anger because of. Terrance growled in response, "She's not here."

He and DeAndre continued to check each room, forcing any locked doors open they came across. Terrance just hoped she wasn't in one of them and started to break out in sweat from either anxiety or the island's humid heat, he wasn't sure. The two crept down another hallway to see a slightly ajar door flex on its hinge.

DeAndre pointed to it and Terrance nodded, the leader going to it. He'd prefer him over his companion should it Pet inside. He nudged the door open with his rifle's muzzle and spooked a rat in the process. The rodent darted into the hallway, DeAndre taking aim and shooting it. The force behind the high powered shot tore through the small animal and sent pieces of it splattering against a nearby wall.

Terrance looked to the other man wearing a dead pan expression. "Was that really necessary?"

"I hate rats." DeAndre shivered in disgust and proceeded to the next office.

Given how trigger happy the other man was, the game warden felt even more nervous and wiped at his brow with the back of his hand. This was going to be a long, long trip. He wasn't sure how long he could keep up his show of face or how persuasive he could be with it. Men such as Ludlow's little hunting party seemed tight knit throughout and because of, were probably skeptical to completely trust someone outside their circle.

They came across the emergency exit, Terrance sighing in relief. He had a feeling it was where had gone and was most likely outside. He opened the door and stood on the back step to look out. Mountains painted green with rich, tropical life greeted his eyes. This was truly an amazing island and definitely an ideal place to set up such a unique park.

Off to the side and a slight distance away was the emergency bunker. Terrance reached for his radio and questioned. "Miguel, how's that maintenance shed going?"

Inside the emergency bunker and lounged back in a chair and smoking a cigarette was Miguel. He slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke, eyes focused on a collection of bloody gauze bandages scattered about the floor. Just shy of them was a table covered in schematics of the maintenance shed and maps of the island. He flicked his cigarette's ashes on the concrete floor where they joined a slowly forming pile of as well as a couple discarded cigarette butts.

He answered. "Maintenance shed was clear, never mind the rotting remains of some poor bastard that got ripped to pieces."

"Where are you now?"

"In the emergency bunker. Apparently our girl is injured...or someone was, at least." Miguel took another deep puff of his cigarette and held it in for a moment before slowly releasing it.

Everything in Terrance froze up with sickening dread. Had he found her? And if so, did he shoot her? Did someone else shoot her? Before he knew it, he was running to the emergency bunker in a frantic run, heart beating faster than his steps could keep up with. He busted in through the bunker's heavy metal door, startling Miguel in the process. The man fell out of his chair when trying to get to his feet and accidently burned himself in the process with his cigarette.

Miguel was livid. "Son of a bitch, man!" He frantically brushed away the fallen ash, now burning a hole in his shirt. "You could've at least given me a head's up instead of busting in here like you own the place!"

Terrance paid the ranting man no attention as he knelt down to inspect the bloody gauze bandages. Whoever it was that was injured had lost a lot of blood. He wondered who is belonged to began running scenarios through his head. Miguel was already under the partial impression it was Pet who was injured and decided to stick with it. Maybe it would help with the story and belief that Pet had died to the Rex. She had become fatally injured and bled to death or died of an infection. The more he thought about it, the less that would work. They would need a body to prove she was dead.

"These could've belonged to anyone" he stated, standing back up. "From what I read in the reports, the girl was supposedly killed by the Rex. If that's so then she wouldn't have made it in here to do this!" He gestured to the soiled gauze.

Miguel joined him, DeAndre entering the bunker. Miguel continued. "She could've escaped the Rex."

"You actually think an 18 year old girl fought and won against a Rex? Did you not see the lobby? The remains of what looked like medium dinosaurs? If a Rex did that to actual dinosaurs, what makes you think some teenager would stand a chance?" Terrance was now in Miguel's face, his usual composed features shining bright red in anger.

Miguel shrugged. "I don't know... maybe she shot it?"

"Did you see any bullet casings _anywhere_ in the lobby?" The other man shook his head. "Okay, then. Use common sense." Terrance loudly sighed and shook his head. "Where's the _other_ Alex?"

"He said he was going to go out back and take a piss." He watched the other two men leave the bunker and go back outside. In their wake, Miguel tossed up a middle finger and cussed under his breath.

Outside and staring jaw dropped at the raptor pen was the second Alex. He pointed at the ravaged cables. "You see that shit?"

DeAndre cut in. "This is why we're supposed to stick together, dumb ass! Just because a bunch of the bigger dinosaurs are dead doesn't mean they're all dead!"

Terrance slowly released the breath he'd been holding and listened as the helicopter flew over the compound yet again. They were searching the island by air for any signs of the hybrid still being alive. Unless they had thermal imagining, he knew they weren't going to find her. The forest canopy was too dense to actually see through, making seeing anything small a problem. Not to mention, Pet knowing to hide when the helicopter flew over. There was no telling where she was, now, or where she'd even end up. The island was massive in size and surely offered a plethora of hiding spots. It'd take months of properly searching the island versus the week they'd been given.

One week. What all was going to happen in that one week? What all _could possibly_ happen? Terrance frowned. "Alright, enough standing around. Get back to searching the compound. We've still got a lot of ground to cover and there's other areas located about the island she could hide. Maintenance sheds, boat dock..." He nodded to DeAndre and they trudged off, leaving the other Alex where he stood.


	49. Keeping A Close Watch

**49 - Keeping a Close Watch**

She had been told to run, to hide, to stay as far away from the team sent to hunt her down as possible. But she didn't. She couldn't. She wanted to keep a careful watch on the man she was still skeptical to trust. She flexed her clawed hand around the strap of her back pack draped over her shoulders in remembering him assisting her by giving it back. That and the fact that he didn't shoot her on the spot as he had told the others in his contingent to do. A hissed snort flared her nostrils and her upper lip slightly curl upwards.

Pet kept her distance behind the hunting party while staying close enough to keep tabs on them. She took to staying in the trees as it was easier to hide amongst the tangled branches and vines than it was to hide on the ground. Except the one time she had caked herself with mud and leaves and hid on her belly under a broad leafy fern. The team had walked right past her, their combat booted feet less than 3 feet from her and they didn't even realize it. And these were hunters? Well, more like mercenaries. They were probably used to jobs not involving chasing down human, raptor hybrids. Even then, she figured they'd know the tricks to hiding and would've brought equipment to better hunt her down. Night vision goggles? Infrared something or others...she wasn't familiar with all the high tech equipment names as she really never bothered with it. She always relied on her excellent sense of smell, hearing and sight. Not to mention her animal instinct and human reasoning.

The team had already been on the island a day and half way into the second. Several times she had heard Terrence mention needing evidence to support her either being dead or alive. Something to show InGen. One of the team members had brought up the possibility of there being no evidence, should she really have been killed and eaten by the Rex. She continued to listen to them through the night as they spoke, discussing their plans with what they were going to do with their cut of the bounty. Ideas ranged from nice cars, boats, a much needed vacation to giving some to their favorite family member in need of extra money.

At least one of the mercenaries seemed decent enough to think of their family and not some material item. In all her years, Pet had learned there were some things more important than others and family and friends ranked top on her list. After it was all said and done, the love of a friend or family member would carry on forever. A material possession would be just that. Sure there would be a sense of pride with it and maybe even a form of love, but it wouldn't be returned. Not like how it would be if shared with a person.

Thinking on the matter churned in Pet's gut. Love. Friends. Family. She closed her eyes against the swelling sadness as it poured from her eye lids. The pains of being left behind still burned and she quietly wept from where she laid in the top of a tree, overlooking the hiking men. She had camouflaged herself well. More mud smeared over the already dried patches gave her skin a rough and almost tree bark like appearance. A little bit of moss here and a small branch of tree leaves there, she blended in perfectly with the trees.

Evening of the second day was starting to set in. The team had voted to make camp for the night and began laying out their mats and blankets around a camp fire. Terrence made his way to a nearby stream and knelt down to refill his canteen. The water was cool and clear, him able to see several tiny minnows dart about beneath its surface. He stayed knelt there a minute, watching the fish, when he saw it. It was distinct against the running stream's surface. A reflection in the water of movement from within a tree top directly above him. He intently watched the flicker of movement and though the reflection was broken by the moving water, he could still make out the silhouette of shoulders and head of a person. Pet.

Why didn't she run? Why was she still there, following them? Following him? Was there something she needed? She'd be found, for sure, if she wasn't careful. No. She wasn't that stupid. She _was_ careful in a reckless sort of way. A sly smile cracked at the corner's of his cracked lips. The team would be so concerned trying to find her in obvious places like sheds, points of interest that could provide shelter that they wouldn't think to look directly above their heads.

He capped his canteen and rose to his feet, about to turn around to look up to the spying hybrid when Jose approached him. "Everything okay, boss?"

Terrence snapped around to face the addressing man. "Yeah, yeah everything's fine. Just refilling my canteen. Was running a bit low and figured better now than later. No telling what's in store of us tonight and I like to be prepared."

"Right..." Jose slimmed his dark eyed gaze down on the man. "Alright, well, whatever. The boys and I were about to crack open some bottles of whiskey and tequila if interested."

"You sure that's safe?"

Jose shrugged. "Fuck it, why not? There's nothing else out here, but us. Dinosaurs are dead and we haven't seen any sign of anything else _alive_ worth noting. A couple rats, some birds...a monkey or two... that's it."

"Better watch out for those monkeys." He shook a finger in the air. "I've come a few in my days working in Kenya and let me tell you, some of those little bastards are vicious."

Jose started laughing. "Uh huh, Mr. Animal Man, over here." He patted the team leader on the shoulder and continued to laugh to himself. "You get your water. Join us for a drink when you're done. We could all use one." Terrence laughed along with the other man until he was out of sight. His laughing could still be heard from over the hill as he joined the others.

The game warden's blue eyes shot upwards to the tree to find no one there. Well, that he could see at least. Moss and a small fern stared back at him where he remembered the hybrid previously being. He took a very small step to the side and knelt down to see a bundle of leaves positioned against each other just right to mimic the shape of a person's upper body. Maybe he didn't see Pet, after all. A flicker of excitement dwindled back down to nothing. He glanced back down in the water to see the shifting silhouette of the leaves in the reflection just as he had thought had been Pet.

"Damn" he muttered to himself and returned to the camp.

Positioned just right between two branches growing upwards was Pet's face. Draped over it like a curtain to a window was a thick tuft of moss. At first glance, it would've looked like a patch of moss growing between the two branches rather than someone hiding. Her golden yellow eyes followed the man in his trek until out of sight over the hill. She thought about repositioning herself to get a better watch on the men but decided against it at the moment. She'd wait till the mercenaries were passed out drunk before daring to climb down. Maybe then, should Terrence still be sober and conscious, she could get his attention for a quick chat. She wanted to know the details of everything versus what she was assuming. If this man was anything like he was those years ago, he didn't drink excessively. If he did, it was a shot or two. Until then, all she could do was sit and wait.


	50. Working Out A Plan

**50 - Working Out A Plan**

All was quiet. The jovial, drunk laughter had subsided to snores and the once healthy camp fire now nothing but small flames dancing on charred logs. Poking at the coals with a stick was Terrance, him holding what remained of the quarter full bottle of whiskey. He'd only had two shots, which is all he cared for, but to everyone else they had seen him take more than that. At least 5 or 6! He had learned from the best how to hide the actual amount he'd drank. Tip up the bottle and look like a big swing was taken, but instead of liquid filling the cheeks its air. Swallow 'the shot' and make a face as though reacting to the bitter bite of liquor against the throat.

It worked. Jose complimented him on being able to hold his liquor. This, of course, came minutes before he passed out. Now, the man was face pressed against a tree root and snoring away. Figuring it late enough, Terrance tossed on a couple more broken up limbs on the fire before calling it a night himself.

Still nestled in her tree was Pet, lost in her own sleep that she had inadvertently succumbed to. She was going to be mad when waking up the next day to find out she had missed her ideal opportunity to talk one on one in private with her once time warden partner. For now, anyway, she was at peace and sleeping soundly.

* * *

_BOOM!_ A loud shot of rifle fire chewed through the quiet, morning air and landing harshly on Pet's ears. She yelped a bark at being startled and frantically took cover behind a thick tree branch. Her heart was racing and her body a wreck of nerves. Had they found her? She started searching herself for any wounds, only to find nothing. _BOOM!_ Another shot rang out through the tree tops. Birds scattered from their perches as monkeys howled.

Terrance jerked awake and hastily got to his feet, rifle in hand. "What the-!"

Juan patted his team mate Alex on the back. "Hell yeah, buddy, you got it that time!"

The accomplished man nodded in satisfaction to himself and slung his gun over his shoulder. Through the underbrush he trekked to where the body of a small monkey laid amongst the leaves. He grabbed it by its long tail and carried it back to the camp. "Like hell I'm eating another one of those damn MRE's." He sat down in front of the extinguished camp fire's pit and began cleaning his fresh kill.

Terrance lowered his weapon and his head in utter disbelief. Shaking his head, he shuffled over the hill and down to the creek. As soon as his feet touched the creek bed, he knelt down and began splashing his face with the refreshing liquid. Though he wasn't new to going on long hunts and being without a bath or shower in that time, he was also in Kenya during that time and not in a humid jungle. His skin felt sticky and because of, wouldn't mind a quick rinse off. he ran another handful of water of his face as well as through his hair. He could easily do this all morning.

A familiar snort behind him got his attention. There was no mistake that was from Pet. He turned around, expecting to find her standing behind him but instead found empty air. First he was seeing things, now he was hearing things? Bushes rustled off to his left and his head instantly snapped to them. He narrowed his gaze and tip toed over to the thick shrubbery.

"Pet? Is that you?" No answer. It had to be either her or something else. Either way, he whispered in ranting. "Are you crazy? What the hell are you doing? You could get caught!" Another snort. "Get your ass out of here, Pet. I can't protect you if they catch you."

"I don't need your protection" she snapped back in a growl.

"Oh really? We'll see about that when they catch you, drug you and deliver you to InGen on a silver platter!"

"Who sent them? Was is Hammond?" She sounded angry, even if her voice as hushed.

Terrance glanced around to make sure he wasn't being spied on. "No." He shook his head. "Hammond was made to step down. His nephew, Peter Ludlow, controls InGen now. He's the one who sent the team. He wants you alive, preferably, but will take whatever he can get in assurance that you're dead."

There was a moment's pause. "And how are you doing to do that, hmm? Want me to cut off a hand or a foot or something as proof I'm dead?"

Terrance didn't need her sarcasm at that moment. "Knock it off, Pet. And I'm working on it. I've been working on since realizing you were still alive."

She hissed a snort. Broad leaves swayed where she was hiding, her continuing. "What about the others? What about Robert? Did he make it?"

"Yeah, yeah he made it."

"And the others? The kids?" The hybrid went silent a moment, trying to swallow the knot forming in her throat. "Dr. Grant? They're all safe?"

"Yeah, Pet, everyone's safe." Again, he frantically looked around to make sure everything was still clear. "Look, I have to get back to the camp. I'll let you know if I come up with a plan. In the mean time, don't do anything stupid."

Before she could respond, the man was gone and her back to being alone. She snorted a sigh in frustration. She hated running. Hated hiding. Hated feeling like a damn coward, but she really didn't have a choice in the matter. Every since her creation, InGen had wanted her dead. Had it not been for John Hammond running InGen, she knew she'd already have been dead long before now. Now that he was no longer in control, there was nothing keeping her protected. She sunk lower to the ground and tucked herself further beneath the concealment of the plant. Only when she knew the coast was clear would she come out of hiding.

3 hours later, Alex wasn't looking so good. His face was dreadfully pale as heavy beads of sweat streamed down his face. He clutched at his stomach and groaned with each step he took. He was sick and everyone had a feeling why.

The man choked out, "Hey boss-" but his words were cut off by him falling ill.

The others in the group paused and looked to their sick team mate. Miguel scoffed. "Maybe next time you'll stick to the MRE's, eh?"

Alex shot hate filled side ways glare at the man in between spasms of being sick. Terrance shouldered his rifle. "Alright, men. Let's take a short break while Alex, here, gets the monkey's revenge out of his system."

A few of the men snickered to themselves and spread out to take a seat in the shade at the base of several towering trees. The team leader casually scanned the tree tops for a possible sign of Pet, but saw nothing. Maybe she was hiding somewhere else. He looked to Juan seated nearby. "Keep an eye on things. I need to take a piss." Terrance strode away from the team and out of site of the others. Surely he was far enough away from the rest of the men that Pet would let him know she was nearby.

Something hitting him in the arm let him know he was right. He went over to an uprooted tree and leaned against it. He knew if he looked in the hallowed out crater where the roots had been he'd find Pet. As much as he wanted to see her to make sure she was okay, he decided against it. As long as he didn't make eye contact with her or actually see her and not what he thought was a reflection, he could honestly say he didn't see her when on the island. He didn't like lying to anyone and knew at least this way, it was the truth.

He questioned. "You got something?"

"I got a plan" Pet whispered back.

"Great. What is it?"

"Got a compass?"

What kind of a stupid question was that? Of course he had a compass. Every man out wandering unknown terrain should have a compass. "Yeah. Why?"

"Good. About 2 miles north east of here is an access road to a maintenance shed. Roughly three quarters of a mile north east of that is the Tyrannosaur Paddock. Go there."

Terrance repeated the directions in his head. "Why there?"

"The Rex was the last to die off. He'd been feeding off the other dinosaurs and what lysine was in their systems, it absorbed, allowing it to live longer. Once the other dinosaurs started to die off, so did the food supply. No food supply, no lysine."

"And no lysine means no dinosaurs."

"Right. According to what I'm hearing, its believed the Rex ate me, right? So, why not make it look that way?"

Terrance was confused. "What do you mean?" A person's foot steps could be heard coming closer to them.

"Just watch for my sign" Pet whispered.

Simon came into view. "Hey boss, Alex isn't doing so good. I think we need to call the chopper back and have him picked up."

Terrance nodded. "Alright. Thanks for letting me know. I have the satellite phone in my bag. I'll give mainland a call and have them send it out ASAP."

Simon nodded and turned, leaving the team leader to himself. Once Simon was out of site, Terrance continued. "Pet, you still there?" No answer. "Pet?" He hesitantly peered into the root hole to find the hybrid gone. He could see where she had been for her distinct foot prints couldn't be missed.


	51. Pet's Sign

**51 - Pet's Sign**

The maintenance shed, just as Pet had said. Terrence smiled. This was as good a spot as any to call in the helicopter, given the expansive field encircling the shed. Behind it was a power grid he figured controlled the electrical fencing enclosing their respective dinosaur habitats. The men took a break, while Simon and Juan towed a makeshift stretcher made out of sticks tied together to support a laid out Alex. Terrence made the call to the mainland and gave a full briefing to what happened and their co-ordinates for assistance.

Within and hour and a half, the helicopter arrived and gently touched down in the grass. Alex was hoisted into the helicopter and as quickly as it landed, it took off with its sick passenger onboard. Miguel opened up a bag of beef jerky and began snacking while looking to the hunting party's assigned leader.

"Where to from here, fearless leader?" The amount of sarcasm in his voice couldn't be masked by the mouth full of jerky.

He shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine." Terrence already knew where to go, but had no idea what to do. He'd just have to wait for Pet's sign and hope it was something he'd understand. "My vote, we check out the T-Rex enclosure area to see what we find there and make our way to the docks from there."

DeAndre was confused. "Why there?"

"Because..." Terrence glanced towards the black man. "The girl has always been one to return to the scene where something traumatic had happened to her or someone else close to her. It was the Tyrannosaur Paddock where the park visitors were attacked and where she risked her life to save them. I can almost assure you, if she's still alive she'd certainly returned there at one point. Hell she could still be there for all I know."

Simon bobbed his head in agreement. "I say we give it a try. Better to go check things out then not and it be the one place she could be."

After being given 15 minutes to rest up, the group continued. Their feet met the main road as their eyes followed the track in the middle of it. In their walking, Miguel started singing Highway To Hell as the others, except Terrence, joined in. For Terrence, he didn't think it appropriate to be singing such a song in light of what had happened. Less than an hour later, the team found themselves standing before the T-Rex Paddock.

Everyone had gone quiet. No one joked, no one sang songs in mockery of what had happened. Nothing. The scene alone was a grim wake up call to the events that had unfolded just a couple weeks prior. Severed cables dangled from their bent support posts as still evident foot prints of the Rex shown in the hard dried dirt road. A loan, vibrant colored Ford SUV paid testament to the unpredictable choosing of nature. To the right were splinters of what used to be a restroom and poking out beneath dried reeds the decayed remains of a person's torso.

The second Alex took a stance in the middle of the Rex print and suddenly felt so small when compared to. Simon and Juan went to the vehicle and began searching the contents for left over equipment.

Simon cheered to himself, "Ah hah!" He crawled out of the back seat of the SUV holding a pair of what looked to be high powered goggles of a sort. "Check these babies out!" He flashed the park themed painted goggles, proudly smiling. "Oh yeah!" He laughed to himself and handed them to DeAndre to look at.

Jose high fived the other and tried them on himself. "So much for trying to see anything in the dark! Way to go, bro!"

Dread sunk deep in Terrence's chest. He could see this going in every way bad. No where was this going to be a good ending. A part of him hoped Pet was watching this to know to stay better hidden, but also he didn't. No doubt the men would find her, now. He felt sick all over and dizzy, too. This was not good at all. He somberly made his way to the concrete wall and sat heavily down. Now what was he supposed to do?

Late afternoon was starting to set in and with it, the heavy humidity. Terrence twisted off the top of his canteen to take a drink. It was almost empty and he grumbled. The once cool and refreshing water was no replaced with hot water that tasted like plastic from his canteen. What he wouldn't give for an ice cold beer at that moment.

He stood up and loudly whistled to get the conversing men, still going on about the goggles, to shut up and listen. "It's going to be dark, soon. That means, we need to do our searching before it gets dark."

Juan held up the goggles. "We got these!"

"Maybe." Terrence crossed his arms over his chest. "But there's only one of those and 7 of us. We're a man down which means we need to work harder to get stuff done. So knock it off with the circle jerking over the goggles and split up!"

The men groaned, but did as told as they readied their guns and split up into their teams. Miguel and the second Alex took to searching the main road while Simon, Jose and Juan took the access ladder down into the Paddock. Terrence and DeAndre followed them down the ladder and joined them by the wrecked second vehicle.

Jose questioned. "Think this is covered on the insurance?" DeAndre smacked him upside the head and shook his head in disapproval. Jose growled out, "Don't ever hit me again," while glaring hatefully at the other.

DeAndre neared the other person's face. "Or what, home boy? What you got?" Juan was so distracted with the two arguing that he didn't notice a pebble hit Terrence in the back. The man mentally place the direction the pebble had come from and gave a brief backwards glance in the applicable direction.

The arguing was getting worse and before the two could start to fight, Terrence cut in. "Enough, you two. We have a job to do and this isn't getting it done!" He took DeAndre by the arm and lead him away from the other. "Come on. We'll search to the north. You two, search eastward. Call out anything you find, dead or alive."

Reluctantly, the two opposing men did as ordered. Every step Terrence took, he kept looking for a sign from Pet. He thought he could see her foot prints in the dirt just barely visible beneath overhanging sprigs of plant life. The man made sure to step on anything resembling a foot print in an effort to hide them from his partner. Its not like it really mattered, anyway. DeAndre's attention was not on the ground but rather searching between trees and anywhere else his eyes could meander to.

That's when they smelled it. A horrid stench drawing a gag from Terrence and a choking cough from DeAndre. They stepped through the foliage to find a heaping pile of days old animal dung. "Shit" muttered the black man.

"Literally" answered the other man. He was about to walk away from the ill inducing smell when he saw it. It took a second glance to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. He titled his head to the side and furrowed his brow in studying the site. He motioned for DeAndre. "Get me a stick or something..." The man did as requested and returned with a stick barely the length of his forearm and as wide as two fingers. Taking hold of it, Terrence used it to dig away fecal matter parts to reveal what he instantly recognized as a collar.

DeAndre huffed a laugh. "Looks like Fido had a bad day."

"That's not Fido's collar." Terrence worked the stick under the collar and completely withdrew it from the pile. A single dung encrusted dog tag hung from the collar, Terrence smiling. "Looks like the girl didn't make it after all."

DeAndre looked at the offensive item, mostly because of its disgusting appearance. "What? She wore that thing?"

"It had a sentimental meaning to it. It was more of a choker than an actual collar." He sat it on the ground and uncorked his canteen to pour the rest of the water onto the tag. Grime filled, etched letterings read Pet and her InGen identification number. "Bingo. Just what InGen was wanting. Proof."

"You don't think they'll want something more?"

Terrence looked to the man, to the pile of dung, and back to the man. "If you want to dig around in there for a bone or something else to use as proof, you go right ahead." He stood up, holding the collar at a distance with the stick. "Besides, the girl never took this thing off since the day she got it. Even when she was sick or badly injured did she never take it off. I'm convinced she's dead."

DeAndre looked at the pile and scowled. "Sure. Whatever. I'm not digging my hands in that shit. No pun intended." He turned and left, Terrence waiting a moment before following. He was looking for Pet, but saw nothing or received any kind of notification she was there. Accepting it as answer that it was time they went there separate way, Terrence finally left.

Sitting high in the top of a tree, well out of the grounded men's line of sight, was Pet. She didn't care her hands and up to mid forearms were covered in dried dung. She was emotionally distraught. Her collar was all she had left of her best friend and the man she saw as a father figure. They day she received it played through her thoughts, her remembering exactly how she felt when seeing it. She swore to loose it, never give it up no matter what. And now, she had. Whether it was for the best or not, she didn't know. She bit back a sob and slowly released a breath she had been holding. Her body ached with heartbreak and she repositioned herself to peer over the branch she had taken cover behind.

She could see the small forms of Terrence and his partner become obscured within the forest's undergrowth. Once she couldn't see them anymore, she cried.


	52. A Favor To Ask

**52 - A Favor to Ask**

It was raining and with it, a needed break from the sauna like steamy heat the hunting party had experienced thus far. Should the rain stop before tomorrow morning, the next day would most likely be worse than the previous ones but at least for now, there was a break. The men had made crude tents with tarps they had stashed in their bags now draped and tied to sticks acting as supports. If it wasn't for the overhead tree tops breaking much of the rainfall, the tents wouldn't have lasted as long as they had. At least the wind was down to a minimum. Maybe that was because the trees were breaking that, too.

Terrence was stretched out under his own tarp tent and looked at the now clean collar's tag glistening in his flashlight's beam. The collar had definitely seen some better days as he didn't recall it looking so rough when its owner still resided in Kenya. The buckle had tarnished and a couple of the holes looking stretched out compared to the others. The leather band its self appeared to be chewed on in a couple spots and was stained in some places from what, Terrence couldn't guess. Sweat, blood...so many things it could be from. The tag had a barely noticeable chip in the edge below the E in Pet with several scratches standing out against the smooth surface of the tag's metal face.

He turned off the flash light to preserve the batteries and sighed. He had already called Ludlow using the satellite phone and relayed the news of the find to see what his next move should be. Obviously the collar, alone, seemed promising for the excitement couldn't be restrained in the CEO's voice. Apparently, Ludlow knew the importance of the collar to the hybrid as much as anyone who knew her did. Terrence would know more in the morning if the search was over or not, after a meeting was called with other InGen executives to discuss the matter.

He sure as hell hoped so. Not only was he ready to get off this damn graveyard of an island, but he was ready to get the men away from Pet. He didn't know her next plan of action post their leaving, but knew she had to have something in mind. She always seemed to be planning stuff, running things through her head. No matter the change in said plans, she always had a back up to the back up should the others fail. Always the cunning and strategic thinker.

Terrence tried to sleep. He tossed and he turned. In his fitful tossing, the rain had stopped and the suffocating humidity begin. As if he couldn't sleep before, now it was just plain impossible. He was sweaty all over and felt his shirt stick to his body as he moved around to get comfortable. He ended up giving up to trying to sleep and laid there, watching the dark of night give way to the light of morning. He was up before the others and quietly snuck out of the camp. He needed to get away from the symphony of snoring with the occasional addition of random chatter in one's sleep. Miguel was usually the worst about talking in his sleep.

He trudged to a set of rocks located near a gorge's ledge and plopped down to watch the sunrise over the stretch of mountains directly in front of him. It was a beautiful sight. Brilliant shades of lavenders and pinks painted the clouds dotting the cool blue of the morning sky. The sight was enough to make him forget the humidity and the fact his shirt was now soaked in sweat. It was no matter. Terrence sat, at peace with himself and slowly inhaled the fresh, tropical morning air.

The soft voice of a young woman filled his ears. "Terrence?"

His watching the sunrise and enjoying the serenading chirping of birds was broken. Pet was there? But where? There was no place for her to hide. He glanced around to make sure he was as alone as he could be from the other men. "Pet?"

"Mhm."

It sounded as though the voice was coming from under him and in between the crack of two rocks. "Where are you?"

"Underneath you. There's a little cubby hole under the rocks."

That made sense. He still felt torn about her not having her choker. "How're you feeling?"

Pet huffed a laugh and shrugged to herself. "Could be better, could be worse. You?"

"Ready to get out of this hell hole." The two were quiet a moment, the sun's rays now starting to break over the mountain tops.

"Terrence?" There was something in her voice much different than he had ever heard.

"Yeah?"

"Can you do me a favor?"

The man could only wonder what it was she could possibly want. She never asked for favors from anyone. "Sure thing. What's up?"

"Don't tell anyone I'm alive. Make them believe I'm dead. InGen will most likely have, if not already, eyes in place to watch them. They'll be looking for anything to give them reason to come back and hunt me down."

Terrence nodded. "Alright."

"And something else..." Pet unzipped the front pocket of her back pack to withdraw the picture she'd had tucked within it since leaving the visitor center. She took one last look at it, her teary eyes never leaving the smiling ones of Muldoon's in the picture. "Give this to Robert." She folded it back up and slid it in the crack between the two rocks. "Make sure he gets it...and the collar! No one else can have it, understood? He's the one who gave it to me, he's the one who should have it back."

Terrence wedged a couple fingers into the crack to get the picture. For a brief moment, his finger tips brushed against hers. The contact might have been subtle, but it was overpowering with emotion. "I promise."

He folded up the picture and slid it into his shirt's front pocket. Behind him, he could hear Jose frantically calling. "Hey boss!" In his hand was the satellite phone. He closed in on the man and handed him the phone. "It started ringing so I answered it. It's Mr. Ludlow."

Terrence accepted it with shaking hands and held it to his ear. "Yes?"

An all too cheery voice of Ludlow answered. "Good news, Mr. Mitchell and good morning. A helicopter from main land is being sent to you via the coordinates you gave me last night."

"Excellent. So this little hunting trip is finished?"

Ludlow deviously smiled to himself. "Just bring me the evidence so my technicians can test it for authenticity. I'll let you know more, afterwards, but there shouldn't be a problem. Just tell your team to ready for departure. The helicopter should be at your location somewhere around 2 hours, give or take."

Terrence sighed in relief and had to swap phone hands due to his first shaking so much in anticipation. "Will do, Mr. Ludlow, and thank you."

"No, no...Thank you." And the phone was hung up.

Jose studied the team leader anxiously. "Well? What did he say?"

Terrence stood up wearing a smile stretching from ear to ear. "Tell the others to pack their shit. We're getting off this damn rock."


	53. The Animal Within

**Fixed a continuing error from Chapter 44, A Business Proposition.**

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**53 - The Animal Within**

Further and further the helicopter flew till it was but spec against the bright blue, morning sky. Even then, after a few more minutes, nothing remained of it. No sounds. No visual. It was as though it were never there and just as Pet preferred it. She slid down the trunk of a tree and to the ground along the north coast and sighed. She was alone, again. Habitually, she brought her hands to her neck where the collar usually was, but remembered it was gone. Gone like the good ol days in Kenya and before the Dennis Nedry induced disaster stripped her of her happiness. She had to accept it whether the wanted to or not. This was to be her fate until some willing force out there took her from the world.

She wasn't quiet ready to accept it, though. She refused to. All of her life, she had grown up being provided for. When she was hungry, food was in the kitchen. Clothes, shelter and even medications were at her dispense. Medicine. It had been 3 months since her illness's little flare up and knew it was only a matter of time before it made an ugly appearance. What then? Just crawl off and die like a wounded animal? Her heart sunk in her chest the more she thought about her greatest fear coming to life; dying alone. Pet didn't bother restraining her cries this time. There was no need to. She was alone. But did she have to be? Isla Sorna. It was right there. Well, not literally, but the closest option she had versus the nothing of Isla Nublar.

The boat dock. It had been her original plan to go to the boat dock and see if there was a transport boat. The boats were large enough to cross bodies of water such as the one dividing the two islands. They had even been modified to carry medium sized dinosaurs on the deck and smaller ones in kennels below. Momentarily forgetting her self pity, Pet got to her feet and took off running the fastest she could.

* * *

Terrence couldn't believe it had already been a week since his returning from the felled Jurassic adventure park hunt. Since returning, he traded in his jungle excursion clothing for a nice suit and tie. He hated ties. He hated suits. He even hated sitting there in the InGen headquarters, waiting to meet with Ludlow. Everything was clean and immaculate in arrangement. Ludlow's secretary's desk barely offered any decoration, except for a small glass dolphin statue. The other desks and offices he had passed mirrored much of the same appearance as far as lack of decor went. There were no pictures to break up the monotony of the stretches of ecru walls except for the occasional blue letters of InGen's logo.

Terrence sighed. He checked his watch for the time to see it had been 20 minutes since his scheduled appointed meeting's time and yet here he was, still waiting. How much longer was this going to go on? Laying next to him on an end table were a couple magazines, him deciding to read one.

He had gotten half way through mindlessly flipping through boring articles when Ludlow's office door opened. The man himself filled the door way as a scheming smile contorted his features. "Ah, Mr. Mitchell. My apologies for the long wait. I was on the phone discussing some things with another executive."

Terrence stood up and adjusted his suit jacket, accepting the out stretched hand offered to him. "Its absolutely fine, Mr. Ludlow. I understand completely."

The two men disappeared behind the polished oak door as they went to a mahogany desk located in front of a large segmented window. Visible between the cracks of the blinds was the city of Palo Alto, California. Ludlow took it upon himself to sit in his dark red cushioned chair while Terrence sat in a more simplistic beige, cushioned chair.

Terrence's eyes instantly fell on the collar pushed to the side of his desk and out of his immediate way. Ludlow noticed this and spoke, eyes never leaving the man. "Yes, about _that._ I read your complete report on your findings while on the island and I must say, I'm impressed. Tell me, though, how did you come about locating the item?" He had already read everything pertaining to its finding in the report, but wanted to hear it verbally explained. While semi listening, Ludlow shifted through a manila folder kept safe in a desk drawer and nodded. "I sent the collar to a team of scientists and they ran several tests on it to make sure it's evidence wasn't faked. Traces of Tyrannosaur feces as well as the girl's DNA was detected in the leather. But what I don't understand is how 'fresh' the evidence appeared."

Terrence scowled. The dung pile was anything but fresh. "Define...'fresh'."

"The evidence particles didn't look to be more than a day or two old." Ludlow sat the folder down to fold his hands before him. His gaze bore into the other man's, eager to hear a reasonable explanation.

Terrence could feel his heart rapidly beating in his chest and wondered if Ludlow could see this. "The Rex was the last to die on the island."

"And you know this, how?"

It was best to stick to the truth and relayed to the executive what he remembered Pet telling him. "It's feeding off the other dinosaurs on the island before their death meant absorbing their lysine into its body. What lysine it was able to get this way prolonged its life. When its food and lysine sources ran out, it eventually died. The body was the least decayed compared to the other's on the island."

"Ah." Ludlow pressed his mouth outwards in thought. "As far as the girl goes...did you see any evidence supporting the possibility she had survived the Rex's attack?"

Did this man really read the report? Terrence had made sure to write everything out in just the right way to support the notion there was no way anyone could've lived the Rex's attack. Not to mention, his mentioning several times he had never come across the girl at all. "I didn't not see the girl the entire time I was on the island."

"That's not what I was asking. Did you see any evidence support the possibility she had-"

"No" Terrence snapped out. "I saw nothing." He was beginning to loose composure, which he did not intend. He sounded more irritated and defensive in tone versus the calm and collected he told himself to remain. The executive cocked a brow in surprise at the outburst. "Sir, with all due respect, did you even really read the report? I explained everything in thorough detail. I saw nothing of her or anything to suggest her surviving the Rex attack." Lies and the exact reason why he was so defensive. He hated lying. "All I found of the girl was a picture she had kept in a backpack and that!" He pointed to the collar.

"A picture? And how is it you came across this picture?" The man sat up and leaned against his arms crossed over the desk top.

"In my searching the visitor center's offices, I came across a back pack. I searched it and found a picture." Thinking about it, he had carried it with him and had it stashed in an inside suit coat pocket. He removed it and held it up for Ludlow to see. "I kept it with the intent of giving it to Robert Muldoon. Whether or not you disliked the girl, he had raised her and I felt it right he have it." The executive's face contorted into disapproval when seeing the offensive hybrid in the picture. "And I think it right he be given that back, too." Terrence pointed to the collar, again.

"Oh?" Ludlow shot the just as offensive object a side ways sneer before turning his attention back on the man. "What makes you think I'll be giving it back to you?"

Twenty minutes later, Terrence was walking about of InGen's headquarters and across the parking to his Chevy Impala rental car. In his hand was the collar, its tag rattling its metal ring securing it to the leather band. He unlocked the car and slid into the driver's seat. Before starting the vehicle, he withdrew an envelope from the inside of his suit coat and opened it up. Inside was a check written and signed by Peter Ludlow. The game warden smiled in triumph to himself and started the car, driving off.

The faint silhouette of Isla Sorna became bigger and brighter the closer Pet got to it. She'd probably have been there by now, but had to take the time to mess around with a transport boat. Due to the storm and its waves, this particular boat as well as several others had become pushed against each other and almost land locked. Little by little she moved each boat out of the way to allow access to the one she wanted. Sure there was another that could've been freed much easily, but it offered less fuel. At least with this one, it was almost completely full.

Then came the issue of starting it. After starting it was steering it. It was much more awkward to navigate compared to the smaller recreational boats she had operated in the past. This one was more along the lines of a fishing boat. It was much smaller than a deep see fishing boat, but larger than a shrimp boat. On the deck of it was a cage used to transport smaller dinosaurs and even juvenile medium dinosaurs.

* * *

The island was closer, now. She wasn't sure what to expect when she arrived as she played several scenarios through her head. Could there be a hunting party waiting for her there, too? Seeing how the second island wasn't linked to the first one as far as computer control went, perhaps this island was still operable. By now it had been pushing over 3 weeks since the incident regarding Jurassic Park. Slowing down the boat's engine speed, she casually trolled the coast to search the shore for any signs of the island's fate.

In less than 30 minutes, she was steering into the docks and up to a post to tie to. She turned off the engine and went to the deck to secure the boat. The dock was completely empty of any other water crafts. Strange. Pet got off the boat and quietly walked down the pier and to the parking lot where a vast assortment of park vehicles were located. She chose one of the SUVs and opened it, finding the keys in the visor. It was one of Hammond's rules; all park vehicles must remain open and the keys placed in either the visor or center console when not in use. She cranked the vehicle and made way to the central office.

Driving to the compound was haunting and eerie. The power had been shut off here, too, for the electrified fence status lights didn't glow. Had someone pulled a Dennis Nedry here, too? While continuing to drive to the second island's central compound, deeper thoughts busied her mind.

Finally she was at the compound and she pulled up to the main complex. Turning off the car and getting out signaled something Pet wasn't expecting. In her scaling the stairs to go inside the building, she heard it. A familiar hissed bark. She stopped in her tracks and feared turning around. Her curiosity got the best of her and she caved, slowly glancing over her shoulder to face a Velociraptor not but just 25 feet shy of her. She gradually spun around to fully face it as she watched others come in through the open gate to join the first.

This was not good. Her eyes studied the 5 juvenile raptors coming towards her only to stop at the first one's snorting a bark at them. They recoiled as though falling back upon order. A pack had been established amongst these creatures. The obvious alpha neared her and began lowering itself to the ground the closer it got to where she stood.

It was challenging her. Pet snorted a shriek, knowing the only way to survive the island was to become the animal within. She lowered her gaze at the approaching creature and growled, curling her upper lip. Just as the raptor charged at her, she charged at it, both leaping at the other and colliding in mid air. To the ground they fell, a tangle of clawed limbed and toothed jaws trying to bite at the other. This was only to going to end one way; one of the two being victorious over the other.


	54. What They Don't Know

**I personally love this chapter. So much emotion in it. Plus, it also introduces one of my favorite OC's I've ever created who will be making a big impact later on in the fan fic.**

* * *

**54 - What They Don't Know**

He knew, one day, he'd have to be the bearer of bad news to the family of a lost co-worker, but not like this. Terrance traced the etched lettering of Pet's collar with his thumb and heaved a sigh. If it was one thing the man hated the most, was lying to someone no matter the circumstance. He had already lied to Hammond and felt torn about it, though it seemed the older man saw through the ruse. Anyone who really knew the hybrid well enough knew better than to believe she was killed by a Rex, despite what the reports said and the 'evidence' presented. He just hoped the one person who mattered the most regarding the cover story knew this as well.

Knowing he had already wasted enough time, the man straightened his composure and rang the door bell belonging to a brick, three story, London townhouse. There was a moment's wait before the scurrying of movement approaching the door got his attention. As the door slowly opened, Terrence politely smiled to a much younger man in his early twenties.

Brown eyes matching a head full of brunette hair studied the visitor questionably. "Something I can help you with?" His eyes slimmed down on the collar in the visitor's hands and then back up to the eyes of the obviously nervous man.

Terrence shifted his stance uncomfortably in the intense stare and nodded. "Yes, I uh...I'm here to speak with Robert Muldoon. I was told this was where he was residing following the, uh..." He cleared his throat. "Following his hospital release."

"And you are?"

"A previous co-worker from John Hammond's zoo in Kenya." He struggled to smile against the heat forming under his button-down shirt.

The younger man looked down at the collar again. Behind him, a woman's voice called. "Derek, who's at the door?" She came into view and studied the newcomer from around the doorway. "Don't tell me you're here on behalf of InGen for _another_ report." Judging by the sound of her voice, he wasn't the only one who had stopped by.

Terrance shook his head. "No, no, actually... I'm here on behalf of a good friend. I wanted to speak with Robert in private, if that was alright."

Derek cut in. "Is this about her?"

The woman was confused. "Her? Who's her?"

"It's alright, Mom, I got this" Derek said, in a hushed tone, over his shoulder. Skeptically, the woman nodded and left. Once she was gone and out of ear range did he continue. "Well?" Terrance nodded. "Good news or bad?"

"That's between Robert and myself."

"Look, whoever you are...I don't care. My uncle has already been through enough and the last thing he needs is some ass hat coming by to make it worse." Derek's jaw clenched in anger.

"Either way, he deserves to know."

The woman's calling out got their attention. "Derek, let him in." Terrance sneered at the scowl he was receiving from the other and pushed his way inside.

He went to the room the woman was gesturing to down the hallway and paused in the doorway. There, seated in a recliner chair and highlighted by the features of a muted TV was Muldoon, his fearful gaze distant and unblinking. Even though it had been three weeks since the park incident and the physical wounds almost completely healed, there was still a lot of pain wrought by emotion in his features.

"I know why you're here" Muldoon stated behind a hoarse grumble. "Hammond told me everything after your visit with him." He reached for a glass quarter full with a dark drink and finished it off in a gulp. The closer Terrance got to the troubled man, the more he could smell the whiskey. "Is it true?"

Terrance reluctantly nodded and set the collar down on the coffee table just shy of the recliner. "I found that in what I could only guess was a large creature's waste."

Derek strode into the living room and passed the visitor as he returned to where he had been sitting. Muldoon's weary eyed gaze settled on the precious object, knowing Pet never took it off for anything. Not even during the times her illness flared up and her throat swollen did she remove it. He balled up a fist laying on an arm rest and clenched his jaw in a surge of mixed emotions.

He growled behind gritted teeth. "They hired you to hunt her down and kill her, didn't they?"

Without being asked, Terrance took a seat on the couch adjacent to the occupied recliner and went rigid. Once up close and at a better angle, he could make out the three, distinct, scarring claw marks running down most of the length of his face. One scar came just over the right ear and ran along the cheek bone to the corner of his mouth. A second, and more severe of the three, started beyond the hairline and down the forehead, over the bridge of the nose and to his cheek. The last cut just shy of his left eye and down to his jaw.

The visitor cleared his throat and awkwardly looked away. "I took the job on a bluff. Yes, In-Gen hired me to bring her in dead or alive, but I only accepted it to protect her. I had heard what she had done to help save not only you, but the others as well and knew after personally working with her that she wasn't just some fucked up experiment to put down. She was a human, for the most part, and had my respect."

Muldoon never took his gaze off the collar when speaking. "Leave."

The man knew better than to stick around and calmly got up, going to the hallway. He stopped for a moment and called back over his shoulder. "It's better, this way. At least In-Gen will stop hunting her down." Which was true. As long as the company thought the hybrid was dead, why continue hunting her? The only problem was, the hurt it would cause everyone else in the process.

Once Terrance left the house, the sound Muldoon yelling in rage and the breaking of glass within the house startled him. It deeply pained him to witness what was happening, but knew that as long as anyone significantly close to the hybrid knew she was still alive, her life was at risk. Biting back his own anger at himself, he walked away from the townhouse.

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**And so ends my Survival chapters. Now, onto my take of The Lost World, featuring my addition of a certain hybrid ;)**


	55. Her Island Their Problem

**Forewarning, a lot of this content had already been written long ago some of the chapters will be a bit short.**

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**55 - Her Island, Their Problem**

4 years later...

Golden yellow eyes could see it in the distance; the silhouette of a yacht and gradually becoming larger in scale as it neared the islands. More tourists, hmm? Here to try and take a peak at the island titans? Or maybe make an attempt to catch one of the little, seemingly innocent dinosaurs? Not today. Not on _her_ island and she recoiled back into the forest.

Within an hour's time, the yacht was anchored not far from shore and a table and chairs picnic arrangement set up on the beach. She readjusted herself where she laid in a tree, camouflaged in dried mud and bits of foliage to match her surroundings. It was pretty effective, too, for a little girl accompanying the island visitors didn't take notice as she walked by not 5 feet away.

The little sun-dressed brunette happily hummed a melody to herself and took a bite of her sandwich, stopping when she heard a sound nearby in rustling bushes. The sound came again and out leapt a chicken sized dinosaur, chirping at the little girl. Brown eyes widened when she saw the animal, smiling. "Well! Hello, there." The Compsognathus chirped again and bobbed its head. "What are you?" and the girl knelt down to get a better look at the creature. "A little bird, or something?" From within the tree, golden yellow eyes squared down on the scene, knowing a pack based dinosaur wouldn't be alone. The little girl handed the dinosaur a bite of her sandwich, which it happily ate. "Mommy! Daddy!" She looked back in the direction to where the picnic site was, continuing. "You've got to come see this! I've found something!" A snort accompanied the watchful, yellow eyed stare as a malicious smile upturned the half snarling lips when more Compys joined the other. Anxious for more of the tasty meat, the first dinosaur tried to snag the sandwich from the girl only to fail when she jumped to her feet in fright. Now there were at least 10 if not more of the chicken sized creatures, each chirping and squeaking at the girl. "Are you looking at this?" She held up her sandwich as she tried to sidestep through the growing mob at her ankles. She tossed the sandwich at the animals and tried to scurry to get away, but wasn't able to.

The dinosaurs continuously trying to leap on the little girl caused her to loose her balance and fall to the sandy ground. She became swarmed by the dinosaurs, each pecking and biting at whatever they could. Pet's sense of moral urged her to save the girl, but she still sat motionless, watching. Where were the morals of those she risked her life to save when they fled the island, leaving her behind? She had lost her ability to give a damn, especially when it came to complete strangers.

Movement from the corner of her eye got Pet's attention and looked to see the parents and a few of the yacht crew come to the little girl's rescue. Knowing their attention would be elsewhere, Pet took the opportunity to retreat to the jungle depths she embraced as home.


	56. The Island of Eden

**56 - The Island of Eden**

Sarah Harding couldn't believe she was going to finally get the chance to observe dinosaurs in their natural environment and smiled excitedly. Once a blur on the ocean horizon, Isla Sorna now loomed ahead and the woman gathered her equipment. She didn't need much as she was already accustomed to residing outdoors and shoved her camera back into her bag, slinging it over her shoulder.

The captain of the boat approached the red headed woman and spoke. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Sarah nodded. "Absolutely."

The Central American man frowned and nodded. "Alright. As soon as we hit the beach, then, be ready to jump off. I don't want to stick around anymore than I have to."

"Alright." She couldn't take her eyes off the island as the smells of tropical plant life filled her nostrils. How could a place so beautiful like this be so dangerous? A slight smile of amusement stretched across her features when thinking of all the horror stories Ian had told her. Surely he was over reacting, as he usually did to the most minor of things.

The boat coasted up to the beach, allowing the passenger to offload, the captain calling out. "This is your last chance, Senora."

Sarah smiled reassuringly to the boat's crew as she back peddled through the ankle high water and onto the shore. "I'll be fine, gentlemen. Thank you for the ride." Certain the woman was doomed, the captain waved her off and ordered for the crew to leave the island.

Oh, how beautiful the island was and she took a deep inhalation of the fresh air. It had been a long time since she had smelled a place so intoxicating. There were no foundries to cloud up the air with its smut, no car exhaust; nothing. This was raw nature and it was exhilarating to the woman. Eager to explore more of the unharnessed island of Eden, Sarah started hiking through the undergrowth, being careful where she stepped.

She took a moment, however, to retrieve a map from her lucky pack and a GPS. Circled on the map were the co-ordinates for where a base camp was to be set up in a few days time and made her way there. She wanted to stick close to the area so as not to wonder off too far for when the rest would arrive. Until then, she would take in as much around her as she could.

Hours later, and a full roll of film, evening was beginning to set in over Isla Sorna. Knowing it was gradually getting too dark to get good picture quality, Sarah set up camp near the marked co-ordinates and settled in the for the night. But she wasn't alone. Tucked off in the growing shadows was Pet, her eyes locked on the small tent standing out against the clearing. Who was this woman? Throughout her following the red head from earlier in the day, the hybrid had noticed key things usually associated with skilled hunters. The most noticeable of these things was how the woman managed to completely avoid the carnivorous species of dinosaurs by staying downwind of them. Pet figured by now, the packs of Compys known to wonder the coast would've found her. The hybrid quietly climbed up a tree and got comfortable, eyes staying locked onto the tent.


	57. Unwelcomed Visitors

**57 - Unwelcomed Visitors**

Days had passed since the strange and curious red headed woman had arrived to the island. From where Pet sat in the tree, she could easily watch the woman in her explorations and photographing of Stegosaurus. By now, she had deemed the visitor of no harm, but was still curious to know how far this woman would go for her studies. When the heard of Stegosaurus started to venture away from where they were grazing, the woman followed. Sarah removed her backpack and set it down on the rocky creek bed, cautiously nearing the dinosaurs again to resume photographing.

Nearby, Pet could hear the voices of people become louder through the undergrowth and turned her attention to the source. Were these other people part of the woman's excursion? Pet lowered herself more onto the tree, blending in to it with her mud caked body. Her raptor like eyes widened when she saw a familiar face amongst two other men and with a gun no doubt. Did he even know how to use it? She snorted and dug her claws into the tree bark, anger swelling within her.

Ian rushed over to the pack on the ground and panicked, calling out. "Sarah! Sarah Harding?"

Pet's eyes fell on the woman, still following the herd of dinosaurs and she tilted her head in curiosity. One of the two men accompanying Ian climbed up onto a fallen tree and began taking his own pictures, Sarah hearing this. She turned to see the man and widely smiled, calling out, "Hey Nick!"

The man stumbled backwards and almost lost his footing, but managed to recover in shock at seeing the woman. He chuckled to himself at the situation and in relief of finding the woman alive, stating, "I guess you got the jump on us, didn't you, Sarah?"

Her laughing subsided, though, when her eyes fell on Ian standing not too far away. He heavily sighed in an attempt to keep calm as she spoke. "Ian, I never thought in a million years Hammond could get to you come here." She climbed down off the tree, waving to the third man in the group. "Hi Eddie. Got a granola bar or something? I'm starving."

The man waved back to the woman and smiled when the movement of something up in a tree got his attention. His pleasant smile dropped his face just as his eyes widened in disbelief. He had done extensive research on the island and InGen's experiments and at one point, came across something he knew he wasn't supposed to find. His gaze stayed locked on the movement within the tree and in not wanting to alarm anyone, slowly turned to follow Ian now running after Sarah. Pet knew she had been spotted, which was why she moved; to further reveal her presence. She snorted to herself and slimmed her gaze down on the group of people disappearing from sight around a bend in the creek bed.

The howling of several stegosaurus got the hybrid's attention and she leapt from the tree, jotting to the source of the sounds. She took cover behind a tree and watched as the woman, Sarah, tried to avoid getting attacked by the dinosaurs. Pet had to admit she found the situation quiet amusing and smiled to herself. That was, until she smelled it. Smoke from a fire. Further enraged, the hybrid took off running through the trees, following the smell, until she arrived at the clearing Sarah had been camping in. Instead of finding a single tent, her eyes fell on a travel trailer and two SUV vehicles painted in a camouflage color scheme.

There, standing over the building flame in front of the trailer was a little black girl, roughly 12 to 13 in age. Pet growled to herself and knelt down amongst several ferns, debating on whether or not to scare her. She hated unwelcomed visitors. Pet continued to hide where she was though, uncertain of how long she had been there when she heard the others run come back.

* * *

Eddie called out, "Dr. Malcolm, fire, base camp!"

Already had arrived to the camp was Nick, him grabbing a large jug of water out of the back of one of the SUVs and dumping it on the fire. Sarah stated, "No! Water makes the smoke billow. Use dirt!" and began kicking dirt onto the fire.

Ian was genuinely puzzled. "Who started the fire?"

The black girl re-emerged from the trailer, this time with a skillet and spatula in her hand as she explained. "I just wanted to make dinner. I wanted it ready when you guys got back."

Even from a distance and through the fern leaves, Pet could see Ian's face turn several shades of pink before settling on a bright red in anger. He bellowed, "Kelly!? What the hell are you doing here?" He grabbed the skillet from her hands and set it down, grabbing her by the arm next. He harshly tugged her to where one of the SUVs sat. "Eddie, where's that satellite phone?" Kelly leaned against the front of the vehicle, sighing. "Eddie, phone?" Ian turned his attention to the shorter man, noticing his back now turned as he looked off into the woods. "What? Do you see something?"

Eddie had a strong gut feeling they were being watched and intently scanned the several limbs of trees surrounding the clearing for the figure he had previously seen. "I did, earlier." He turned his attention to Ian. "Someone is out there, Ian. We're not alone."

"What? No, you couldn't have. There's no one else, here, Eddie. Its just us." Ian turned his attention back to Sarah. "Have you seen anyone else?"

She stood up from where she was kneeling over the smoldering fire and wiped at her brow. "No, its just been me."

Ian turned his attention back to Eddie. "See? There's no one out there."

Pet called out, "Wrong" and rose up from where she had been hiding. Her unblinking, raptor like eyes locked onto the man's dark ones, her sensing the sudden explosion of fear from him. She snorted and maliciously smiled. "Hello, Dr. Malcolm."

Everyone's attention was on the hybrid now, disbelieving what they were seeing. Ian backed away from the hybrid as she took a step more into the clearing. "You...you're dead. The letter Hammond sent me said so. There was proof. You were found dead!" The hybrid snorted. "How...?"

Pet scoffed. "So that little prick kept his word, did he? Surprise. Guess he's not as worthless as I thought."

"What?" Ian watched the hybrid proceed further into the camp, everyone but Sarah, drawing back. Her unsettling stare went back to Ian, the man realizing she was challenging him and he went back to Kelly as though to protect her.

Pet snorted. "You never should've come here."

He nodded in agreement. "Yes, I know this, but Hammond sort of roped me into it." His gaze fell on Sarah, the hybrid sensing the shift of emotion from fear to worry.

Pet raised a brow in realization. "A rescue attempt, I see. Interesting." Eddie was about to speak, but was cut off by the continuing hybrid. "Must be someone special to come back for."

Ian could feel the animosity in the hybrid's tone of voice. "Look, I know you're probably a little upset about being left-"

"Only a little?" She shrieked. "I was left behind...betrayed by people I thought were my _friends_!"

Nick jumped when he heard the shriek from the newcomer, Ian continuing. "John Hammond did what he did to protect you." The hybrid shrieked a bark and dug her sickle claws into the soft earth. "InGen had someone waiting on the mainland, ready to shoot you. You would've died, Veronica."

That name. Just hearing it felt like a shot to the chest and Pet fiercely shrilled. Dr. Alan Granthad given it to her the night in the tree. Before, it used to mean something but now, it was a scab to an un-healing wound being picked at. The hybrid released a shrill and lunged at the man. Ian grabbed Kelly and barely avoided the attack as the hybrid landed on the hood of the car. She knelt there a minute and glared over her shoulder at the man, shielding the little girl.

Ian continued. "Trust me, we all wanted to help you. We really did. It didn't feel right leaving you behind, especially after everything you did to help save the kids. Hell, Dr Grant wanted to go back and get you himself."

"And Robert?"

"Who? Oh, the game warden. Yeah, he was unconscious pretty much the entire time." Pet leapt off the car and paused where she stood next to it, frowning. "You being left behind is what saved you." His gaze watched the angered features of the hybrid sink to sadness and he felt bad for her. He turned his attention to Eddie, continuing. "Now, where's that satellite phone?"


	58. InGen's Team

**58 - InGen's Team**

Pet watched the 5 people in annoyance from where she sat on the roof of the second vehicle, her attention staying on one person in particular. Of all the people she expected to never see on the islands again and here he was; a walking theory to the madness within his head. Chaos. Never knew what was going to happen next. She could hear the other two men in the group chat quietly amongst themselves and barked a hiss for the amusement of watching them jump at the sound. She wickedly smiled at the men staring at her wide eyed in nervousness.

Ian frustratingly tapped the satellite phone on its case in a typical attempt to get the device to work. "Eddie?"

The bald headed man seated on the back of one of the vehicles answered. "What?"

"Why in the hell doesn't thing ever work?" He violently shook the phone tightly clutched in his hand.

Eddie sighed and stopped what he was doing to answer the flustered man. "It's not a landline. You're not in a phone booth. You got to wait for a decent signal." Ian continued to bang on the phone, Pet snorting a laugh. Oh the enjoyment she was getting out of watching the chaotician's circumstance.

"Unpredictability is a bitch, isn't it _Dr._ Malcolm?" Pet sneered.

The darkly clad grumbled under his breath, hitting the phone again. His trying to get the phone to work was becoming more of a child having a temper tantrum because his favorite toy wasn't working. Eddie sighed. "Violence and technology do not make good bedfellows."

"Take Jurassic Park, for example" the hybrid added in.

Ian pointed a finger at the woman in warning. "Enough..." Her cocking a taunting smile made the man roll his eyes and refocus on what he was he doing.

Her hearing what Sarah had to say peeked her interest and she ripped her attention off Ian. "Hammond wants the equipment as close to the animals as possible."

Pet snorted. "I don't think so!"

Ian helped, more like drug, the little girl off the hood of the second car. "Great idea" he mumbled. "And why don't you smear on a little sheep's blood?"

"Good luck finding a sheep on the island. Might I suggest-"

Ian interrupted the hybrid from continuing. "Shut it!" She shrieked a hiss in response. "Look, I'm taking my daughter out of here. Anyone coming with me, this is your last chance to get out."

"Better now while the going is good then later when-"

Ian held up a finger to silence her yet again. "So help me, if you even think about finishing that sentence..."

Pet sat up, slimming her raptor eyed stare down on the man. "You'll what? Hmm? What do you think you can possibly do to me that hasn't been attempted already?" Eddie slowly turned to study the hybrid as ideas of what she could possibly mean flooded his thoughts.

Sarah, feeling the urge to change the topic, spoke up. "So listen, when you're out in the field and there's nothing you can do-" her voice was drowned out by Ian's ramblings, Pet huffing a sigh.

She slid off the top of the vehicle she had been perched on and made her way to the forest's line. She could care less about the people arguing and disappeared into the foliage. The hybrid could only imagine how this was going to work out, seeing how Ian Malcolm almost lost his sanity on the first island before everything went straight to hell. Here, the dinosaurs were wild, free and stronger than ever.

Her walking came to a slow and finally a halt. She didn't like the sound of what she was hearing. It sounded like thunder in the distance, low and rumbling but there were no storm clouds in the sky. Gradually the noise became louder and most distinct. A sharp shriek of a bark escape the hybrid. Helicopters.

"You've got to be shitting me" she mumbled under her breath and spun around where she was standing to return to the cliff side where the others had set up camp. She erupted from the tree line in a furor of animalistic growls and shrills. "What the hell are you people doing now?"

A parade of helicopters carrying crates of equipment and vehicles came into view, Eddie confused. "I don't get it. It says InGen on the side of that chopper!" He gestured to the one he was referring to.

Pet grabbed the binoculars from the man to see for herself. "Shit."

"I don't get that. Why would Hammond send two teams?" He looked to the unnerving woman next to him.

She brought down the binoculars to look to Eddie and then to Ian. "You mean you didn't know about this?" Pet pointed a clawed finger to the sky. "This isn't any of your doings?"

Ian took a look for himself, Sarah calling out. "Doesn't Hammond trust us? We haven't even gotten started, yet!"

The Dr and hybrid looked to each other in a mix of worry of confusion. Ian shoved the binoculars in Eddie's chest and brought himself to fully face the hybrid. "What are you not telling us?"

"Excuse me? What am I not telling _you_?" She neared the man and curled an upper lip, growling. "You're the ones who barged in on my island unannounced and uninvited. I should be asking you the same thing!"

Nick cut in. "We should go see what they're up to."

When Ian turned his attention to his friend, Pet liked the sound of the man's and retreated from the scene. Ian realized this and yelled out at her. "Hey come back here!" But it was no use. She wasn't going to listen to him.

* * *

She ran the fastest she could through the jungle, leaping and bounding over fallen trees and over ditches. Stegosauruses bellowed and strewn from the charging predatory woman as she continued to followed the sounds of the helicopters. Judging by the amount of vehicles and equipment being sent in, they weren't out for a casual hunt in the park. There was some other motive to their visit and she wanted to know what.

The sounds of the rotors chopping at the air seemed to accumulate at a certain region Pet remembered an abandoned airport being. She slowed her pace down to a jog and finally a crawl as she lowered herself to the ground. Two company helicopters touched down on the landing strip grown over with tufts of grass and littered with bits of leaves. Several men began unloading from the aircraft before the helicopters took back to the sky. Replacing them were vehicles secured via special harnesses and suspended from Chinook aircraft. Several of the men began to unsecure the varying assortment of heavy duty off road vehicles.

One of the men made themselves clear as the director of the group. He seemed a bit more well dressed and wore small shades perched across a nose wrinkled in squinting against the sun. He tugged his brown hat further over his face to shield his eyes against the sun and began directing orders to the workers. "Careful, now! That's expensive equipment!" His focus shot over to a large, metal pallet descending before 2 men. "Make sure that makes it to the campsite coordinates _undamaged!_"

Another man wearing a safari style get up approached the ordering one. "Relax, Peter, my men know what they're doing. This isn't the first time they've done something like this."

Pet snorted to herself. How could she forget that face? Peter Ludlow. She had seen pictures of him and thought back to Terrance Mitchell telling her how it was this man who paid to see her brought down. The animal in her wanted to strike out at the man, tearing him apart with tooth and claw. But she refrained. All around him were men she knew were most likely armed. Human reasoning kept her rooted where she knelt, hidden in the bushes. It was only a matter of time before she was found, given the amount of men and movement the area was starting to attract.

She'd have to get somewhere safe, out of their way and out of their view. Where would she go? Where would she hide? As dangerous as Peter Ludlow and associations were, Pet wanted to keep close tabs on him. So what she wanted to get him by himself and off him. Nothing would satisfy her savage taste for blood than this man's. He had ruined her life by ordering men to hunt her down. He was undoubtedly the reason why she wouldn't be able to leave the island and return to a semi normal life whether it be in Kenya or elsewhere. All she wanted was to rejoin Robert, wherever he was.

As fast as she had ran to the helicopters, she ran just as fast away from. She could hear the spark of engine life fill the vehicles and jumped into a wash out to take cover. 30 yards away was what remained of a paved road leading from the landing strip and further into the unchecked wilds. Motorcycles roared by followed by specially modified off road trucks and Jeeps. In the back of one was Pet's target; InGen's CEO. Pet stayed hunkered down and out of site till the last of the vehicles past by and the thunder of helicopters diminish. Once the coast was clear did she poke her head up and over a fern to watch the last of the dispatched vehicles become obscured in a dust cloud. What were these men up to?


	59. Spy Pet

**59 - Spy Pet**

Troves of specialized vehicles burst from the forest line and into a vast field occupied by an assortment of grazing herbivore dinosaurs. The dinosaurs bellowed and squawked at the sudden disturbance and took off running away from the entourage of trucks and motorcycles. Soon, a stampede of prehistoric creatures was formed, but it didn't stop or even slow the now pursuing vehicles. Motorcycles wove in an out of a Brachiosaur's legs as a Jeep sped up to catch up with a juvenile Pachycephalosaurus.

Ludlow was in awe of the scene before his eyes. Massive creatures the size of multistory apartment buildings and hotels gracefully moved along the path. He had never seen anything like this before! He had seen pictures of some of these beasts, but never imaged he'd get to see them so up close. What a wonderful sight it was, indeed! For once, he had to give it to his uncle; John Hammond had a dream. Ludlow grinned like a giddy school boy and laughed out load to himself as the Jeep bumped and banged around along the trail.

Watching the scene from the safety of a high up, rocky hillside was Ian Malcolm and companions. Neither were sure if they should be worried for the dinosaurs or concerned with InGen's intentions. Why were they tranquilizing and catching different species of dinosaurs? Roars of fear and pain echoed the valley as Pet followed the sounds to the field. She found herself across the way from the excitement and roared a shrill in outrage. Her sounds were drowned out by the varying degrees of roars from the other animals, which was probably for the best.

Movement from atop a rock captured Pet's interest and she looked up to see a line of faces from Malcolm's team. She debated on joining them, but didn't want to be seen. Her raptor eyed gazes studied the team of men and vehicles still chasing the dinosaur stampede and knew now would be as good as ever to join the others on the rocks. InGen's team was so busy with rounding up and picking off the dinosaurs that she doubted they'd even take notice her some ways behind them.

Pet's mind was changed. What else did these men intend to do while on the island? She ducked back down into the forest and returned the way she had come. There sure was a lot of equipment being brought to the island and now, after watching them catch different specimens knew they had something planned. She wove between the trees, being mindful of any possibly passerby that might see her and returned to the airfield. But first things first; camouflage. If she was planning to spy on the cooperation's team, she'd need to stay hidden as best she could. Good ol' mud and moss always did the trick.

* * *

Trucks towing trailers loaded with electrical equipment and supplies for building tents proceeded down the remaining bits road. Because of the horrible, un-kept condition of the road the trucks had to travel slower than the drivers preferred. Hitting a chug hole just right or veering off the road could be disastrous for the trucks. Standing on the back of the truck beds was an armed man, scanning the forest for any possible chance of an attack from a hungry predator.

The trucks were getting close to the coordinates predetermined to be the camp and began to slow. They lined up one behind the other as several crew workers lowered the trailer bed gates to start unloading the equipment. Tables, chairs, tarps and tent posts were set off to one side while metal crates and boxes were placed elsewhere. Pet stayed hunkered down behind a fallen tree trunk blanketed with moss and watched the scene unfold.

Afternoon became early evening and the camp now set up. Flatbed trucks with specimens of dinosaurs began to arrive and were directed to cages designated for specific sized dinosaurs. Pet didn't like this at all. She recognized what they were doing. She had both seen and even participated in events such as this when in Kenya by going out to catch a specific animal for it to later be displayed in the zoo. InGen was capturing the dinosaurs for something like that. Was it possible they had rebuilt Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar and were going to transfer the dinosaurs to the park? Or was there another park somewhere she didn't know about? No way would InGen be stupid enough to try at another park given all the difficulties the first attempt saw? Setting aside one disgruntled employee sabotaging things, there were still other dangers to take into consideration like the carnivores attacking the people.

She huffed a hiss and low crawled away from the high tech camp. Pet figured it best to inform Malcolm's team of what was going on and what she assumed to be going on. Something had to be done. No way was she going to let InGen do what she thought they were going to do and she knew she couldn't do it by herself. Of all the times she had helped other people, she figured it was time she be given some good karma. After all, what goes around comes around, right? Now to find where Malcolm and his team ended up.


	60. Another Sabotaged Dream

**60 - Another Sabotaged Dream**

"Of all the nerve! Can you believe what they were doing?!" Sarah was furious as she fitfully paced the camp.

Nick started packing a backpack, frowning. He wanted to tell them, he really did but found it increasingly difficult to do so. Malcolm opened his mouth to reassure the woman only to have his words stopped in his throat by Pet calling out. "You think that's bad?"

Eddie jumped in being startled at the sudden hybrid's outburst and dropped the satellite phone's case on the ground. "Son of a-" He grumbled and bent down to pick it up.

Ignoring him, Pet continued. "There's something I think you need to see." Her raptor eyes were locked onto Malcolm's wide open dark ones.

"What are you talking about?" He stepped closer to the young woman, dread etched in his expression's every feature. "Veronica...what is InGen doing?" 

That name...it burned her and she snorted a hiss in response to. "Follow me. But keep low and stay quiet."

Nightfall had settled in by the time the group arrived to InGen's encampment. Pet led them to where she had been previously hiding behind the mossy, fallen over tree trunk and snorted. The people watched on, lost in the suddenness of it all. "They're taking these animals out of here" Malcolm breathlessly stated to his companions. "Back to the mainland."

Nick began rummaging around in his back pack. "I think I should tell you. Hammond told me these people might show up. He thought we'd be finished by the time they started, but if they weren't...he sent a back up plan."

Ian arched a brow in curiosity, Sarah questioning. "What backup plan?"

He pulled out a pair of bolt cutters from the conceal of the bag and flashed them before the group. A scheming smile upturned his features and he stashed the cutters in his utility vest. "Me."

Pet growled. "_You?_" She leapt onto the man and pinned him to the ground. "You knew about this?" The hybrid neared the terrified man's face so their noses were barely an inch apart. "And you didn't _tell anyone?"_

Ian grabbed the hybrid off the man, being mindful of the flailing sickle toe claws, and stated, "Damn it, Veronica, not now!"

The hybrid forced herself to stay calm, but her anger filled eyes never left the panicked man. She snorted in annoyance and watched as he slithered out from under the heat of her glare. The others followed suit, leaving Pet by herself. She felt lied to and because of, wanted nothing to do with them anymore. Not like she really wanted anything to do with them anyway, but she wanted to see InGen fail even more. Growling, she followed.

As the others disappeared within the forest shrubbery bordering the camp, Pet crept behind a tent that seemed to have garnered quiet the popularity. She could hear Ludlow speaking. "One might say, it'd be up and running." He laughed to himself in satisfaction. "In a moment I'll take you on a stroll through the camp and you'll see some larger, more impressive specimens." The others. He'd see the others and the plan would be foiled. Pet's eyes widened in a fleet of panic. "Mr. Hammond knew this. Before he ever dreamt of an island he began construction on an amphitheatre...very near to where you're sitting now, the InGen Waterfront Complex."

Pet snorted in a flare of anger. John Hammond, that bastard! What else had be been up to since initially dreaming up his dinosaur themed park? Or parks, from the way it sounded. Ludlow paused in his presentation to glance back over his shoulder. What was that? Perhaps it was nothing at all, or maybe one of the caged dinosaurs amongst the menagerie of many.

The CEO continued in his speech. "But, he abandoned it in favor of something far grander and ultimately impossible."

Pet face palmed and shook her head. And what this guy was wanting to do was going to be any different? Wasn't man ever going to learn from their mistakes? Trampling within the jungle and coming her way got her attention. She raised her head to see the vague form of a Triceratops come towards her and the tent she was hiding behind just in time. The hybrid leapt and rolled away from the creature's direct path and watched as it tore through the tent and knocked over racks of equipment. A toothy smiled curled at her lips and she barked a growl in delight.

Pet snarled. "Take your grand, far fetched dream and stick it up your corporate ass." She snorted. "Like uncle, like nephew. Failure must strong in the blood line." She got to her feet and ran to find the others.

Freed dinosaurs roared, grunted and chirped through the camp as people screamed in fear. Vehicles were flipped over and fires were started, Pet weaving amongst the chaos in an attempt to better clear of it. When she finally made it out of the frantic crowd, she heard it; an animal in distress. She ran to the source and hadn't even fully gotten there when she saw it. A young Tyrannosaur laying on the ground and crying for help. This was not good.

She could hear Nick calling in the background. "Sarah!"

Pet was about to go to the man, but ducked for cover at seeing a Jeep on fire fly through the air. It crashed onto a tree and sent the two people perched on it crashing to the ground. The two people quickly got to their feet and rushed to the camp.

Pet ran to where Nick was, desperately searching the frantic faces and took him by the arm. "Come on. Over here."

Reluctantly he followed, mind racing on where she was taking him. His mental question was answered, however, when he found himself face to face with the baby T-Rex. "Oh you've got to be kidding me" he blurted. "Is that what I think that is?"

"Do what you can. I'll go find the woman." She was gone before Nick could stop her.

He knelt down beside the desperately crying creature and was lost on what to do for it. It was tied down. Sliding through the mud, he grabbed at the spike buried within the ground and wiggled it loose. Pet bolted between trees, shrubs and remnants of tents and vehicles trying to find the red headed woman, but she was no where to be found. Everywhere the hybrid looked, her target was no where. One person did manage to get her attention, however. She's seen him before at the airstrip after the team initially landed.

She squinted her eyes and tilted her head in bafflement. Where had she seen this guy before? He looked so familiar but she couldn't quiet place him. Pet really didn't have time to stop and question it and got up to resume her searching. She could hear the baby Rex bellow out loud and jerked her head around to see Nick run off into the forest with it in his arms. Had the woman, by chance, joined him and she didn't see? The hybrid took off after him, forgetting about the felled camp and InGen's dreams behind her.


	61. High Hide

**61 - High Hide**

As if things couldn't get any worse; it was raining, now. Pet grumbled from where she sat in the back seat of the Mercedes SUV. "Why does it always rain when shit hits the fan?"

Nick through the SUV into park as Sarah got out of the front seat. Both people were going for the back seat before the front doors had even completely closed. The man carefully took the baby Rex from the hybrid and scampered to the trailer. Sarah opened the door and the three people rushed inside, startling Ian and Kelly inside. Ian's eyes became as wide as dinner plates when watching the baby Rex be brought inside.

Where they out of their minds?! "No, no, honey, no!" He looked to the hybrid dripping with rain and glowered. "You put her up to this, didn't you?" He momentarily ignored the other two people and got up to point a finger at the hybrid. "Do you take pleasure in watching people die?" He then pointed a finger in the direction of the people laying the dinosaur on a table. "Do you have idea what that thing doing here could mean for us?" The wailing of the baby Rex was more than what he could take. He turned to watch the two people. "What must I do, hit her with a stick?"

Kelly was genuinely curious and eager to see the dinosaur and pushed past Ian to get a look. "I wanna see!"

The man grabbed her. "Watch out!"

Sarah held a bloody hand up to the girl to keep her at a distance. "Don't stand too close!"

The little girl couldn't take her eyes away from the sight as the dinosaur squirmed about and bellowed in agony. "Other animals are going to hear this."

Pet snorted and took the girl by the arm to guide her away from the Rex. "If they haven't already. Tyrannosaurs have excellent hearing and I'm sure, by now, that little one's parents are already aware their baby is missing."

Kelly broke loose from the hybrid grasp to wrap her arms around her father's. "Dad, I've got to get out of here. I want to leave!" She tugged at the sleeve of his shirt in her begging and pleading. "I don't want to be here. I want to be somewhere safe!"

Every time Ian tried to get a word in, the little girl would interrupt him. Having no choice, he put a hand over her mouth to briefly silence her. "Alright, alright, alright! Okay..." He took in a deep breath to calm his nerves. "Some place high..." His dark eyes settled on Pet looking to him just he looked to her. "You, come with me."

"What the-" Her words were cut off by the man dragging her outside.

Ian demanded, "Get in the car," and opened the back door, shoving her into the backseat. Kelly stood in the trailer's door, tears of panic streaming from her eyes. "You too, get in the car." The little girl did as told and quickly made a beeline for the front seat. Ian poked his head into the trailer. "Honey, I'm taking Kelly to the High Hide!" The woman made no acknowledgement of him as she and Nick continued to work. He waved the two people off and got into the driver's seat, starting up the car.

Within minutes, the three were pulling up to the other camouflage painted Mercedes parked in front of a large net covered cage. Inside it was Eddie, the man confused. "What is it? What's going on? Information, please!"

Ian rushed Kelly to the gate of the cage, Pet preferring to climb into it. "You're much happier not knowing" Ian answered. "Get us up."

Eddie did as told, wondering if this had anything to do with that bizarre noise he heard from the other vehicle when it passed by. Their ascending to the tree tops was slow and grueling. Finally it came to a stop and rattled, swaying in its suspension.

Pet studied the contraption. "Cute. Who's idea was it to make this?"

Ian ignored the hybrid as his main concern was to console Kelly. "Okay, we're high. This is the safest place you can be."

What? The hybrid studied the family beneath an arched brow and brought her attention to Eddie next to her. The man shook his head and shrugged. Kelly scoffed. "You're just trying to make me feel better. I remember all those stories you told."

"Oh, no, no, no this is nothing like that."

Pet huffed a laugh. "Its exactly like that! We're on an island with unrestrained dinosaurs and look!" She motioned around her. "Its even raining, too! Just like-"

"I will personally throw you out of this tree cage if you don't shut up..." There was an edge to the man's stare Pet was tempted to further test. She smirked and cocked a brow. Ian felt Kelly tremble against him and refocused his attention on her. "Don't listen to her. We're in a completely different situation now."

Familiar roaring from a Tyrannosaur in the distance shook the nerves of those present. Pet started chuckling. "Oh yeah, Dr. Malcolm...this is a completely different situation, now isn't it?"

"Eddie" Ian began, turning down the light in the kerosene lamp. "Is there any way we can communicate with the trailer?" 

The hybrid took a stance before him. "Screw that. Let me go back to the trailer. I know the way and will be there in a jiffy."

Eddie dared not look away from the bleak darkness he had heard the roar stem from and handed the other man the phone. Ring after ring, there was no answer. "Damn it, Sarah, answer the phone..." he grumbled under his breath. "No answer. What a surprise." He slammed down the phone. "How do I get down?"

Pet grabbed at his arm. "You're not seriously thinking of _you_ going back are you? Let me go, instead! I can get there faster than you!"

"No" he barked back, spinning around to face her. "I need you here." Ian peeled her clawed hand from around his bicep. "For Kelly. Please. I trust her with you." The words seized the woman's breath in her chest. "You kept Hammond's grandkids safe on the first island." He cupped her face in his rain drenched hands and stared deeply into her eyes. "I beg you, Veronica. If not for me, then for Kelly."

Pet's head began to swim in a mix of emotions and she nodded. "Okay."

Eddie handed Ian a thick belt used for climbing, stating, "Tie this belt around you."

Kelly panicked. "Where are you going?!" The man fervently strapped the belt around him and tried his damnedest to ignore the little girl's begging. "Stay here, come on, please!" A rope was shoved into his hand as he barely heard Eddie explain to him to squeeze it in between Kelly's pleas. "Stay here, please!"

Pet watched as the man took a knee to be eye level with the girl. "Honey, the queen? The goddess?"

"Your inspiration" she huffed out.

"Now you're talking. All right." Ian climbed over the railing and paused before descending down to look to Kelly. "I'm coming right back. I give you my word."

The little girl yelled back, "But you _never_ keep your word!"

"You just have to trust me this time" he soothed. "Just stay close to Veronica and nothing will happen to you." He nodded to the hybrid who gave a subtle nod in understanding. In the blink of an eye, the man had let go of the cage's railing and vanished within the tree tops beneath.

Everyone rushed to the edge to peer over it, listening to branches breaking under his weight. A distinct sound of Ian crashing to the forest floor let everyone know he had landed. The hybrid called down, "Watch that first step, its a doozie."

Eddie glared at the hybrid and shook his head.


	62. Something Has Survived

**62 - Something Has Survived**

Roland stared down at patch of smeared mud where the infant Rex had been. The post it had been secured to was pulled up and the rope that had been tied around its neck cut. All around the site were foot prints belonging to two different sets of feet. One was with shoes and another, animalistic like. He squared his analytical gawk at the two sets of foot prints and traced one set back to the ruined camp and the other into the forest in the direction of a flooded over creek.

He stood up and looked to Ajay next to him. "Find me Dr. Burke." Roland had a feeling what made the tracks, but wanted a second opinion.

Moments later, Burke was brought to the requesting man. "You wanted to see me," he questioned, still appearing a bit nervous following the rampage through the camp.

Roland pointed at the animal like tracks with the muzzle of his rifle. "Can you tell me what it is that made these particular tracks?"

A light flashed in the man's eyes from jumpy to professional. He knelt down to study the water logged tracks in the mud. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say these were made by a Velociraptor."

Just as he thought. "But a Velociraptor wasn't apart of our little menagerie, was it?" Burke looked up, confused, and shook his head. "Which means, gentlemen..." Roland looked to Ludlow standing nearby. "Something has survived."

The CEO was momentarily thrown off by the comment. "What do you mean?"

"A girl, a hybrid. InGen created her some what, 22-23 years ago?" The hunter neared the executive as though a piece of prey to feast upon.

"How do you know about that?" Ludlow studied the approaching man and began to feel hot under the collar.

"Sources, Mr. Ludlow, sources. I knew a man who took a caring to such a girl, once. Robert Muldoon was his name. He raised her and treated her as though his own." Realization grew in Ludlow's widening eyes. "Then you bastards came along and tried to kill her when her only fault was trying to be human."

Enraged, Ludlow spoke up to defend not only himself but the company as well. "That bitch was an abomination John Hammond sought to protect. Unstable, she was. A monster. And just for your information, she was already dead when my hunting party went to search for her. I have no regrets in her fate" he spat.

Roland balled up a fist and reared it back, about to hit the man until Ajay stopped him. "No" he stated to his good friend. "What's done is done."

Dieter stumbled up to the forming group, it obvious he had been drinking. "We need to find the others, whoever they are, that did this!" He motioned to the camp with a hand clutched around a flask.

Gladly accepting the change of topic, Ludlow nodded. "Yes, we should. They couldn't have gotten far." He and Roland exchanged another set of hateful stares before the hunter broke away to follow the tracks leading into the forest.

He soon came across a series of tire tracks and sneered. "I've got you now you sons of bitches."

In the high hide, Pet laid out on her back on the cage floor bored. For Eddie and Kelly, their hearts were racing in anticipation. Not far from where the high hide was were tree tops swaying against the might of something neither two people cared to personally see. Anything able to make trees sway like that had to be something either massive in size or strong. Or both.

Eddie flexed his grip around his gun. "Uh, Veronica?"

Pet sighed. "Yeah, what?"

"You, uh, need to come look at this."

The hybrid rolled her eyes and stood up to see what the two people had noticed. She arched her brow. "Somehow I knew this was coming..."

A flock of birds burst from the trees they had been resting in and fearfully squawked in their flying away. Eddie nervously swallowed. Heavy foot steps became louder as they passed beneath the high hide. "What do you suppose that is?"

Pet looked to the man. "Do you really want to know?" The three people watched the unseen force pass beneath them and in the direction of the trailer. "I knew I should've been the one to go instead."

The swaying of tree tops became distant, but it didn't ease the worries of the people. Eddie grabbed the phone and immediately tried to call the trailer. The unsuspecting people had to know what was coming their way.

No answer. Of course they wouldn't answer. Eddie slammed the phone down. Pet snorted. "What? No! Keep trying them!"

Grumbling, the man did just that and was happy he did when hearing Ian's voice on the other side. "They're going back to the jungle."

"I know" Ian replied. "How's Kelly?"

"She's fine. She's right here." He handed the phone to the little girl.

The girl tried to regain composure over her swelling nerves, answering. "Hello?" At hearing her father's voice, she became overwhelmed in relief. She could feel her knees start to give beneath her and tears swell in her eyes.

"Kelly, are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm good" she huffed out. She intently listened to what her father had to say and nodded. "Yeah, I understand."

The girl handed the phone to Eddie who hung it up and looked to Pet. There was something in her eyes he didn't like. An uncertainty, a foretelling that animals seemed to have right before things were about to go bad.

She wasn't the only who felt it. Ian went rigid where he sat, radio mic in hand and breathlessly stated, "Hang on. This is going to be bad."


	63. A Friend In Unlikely of Places

**63 - A Friend in Unlikely of Places**

Eddie couldn't recall the repelling rope fast enough. He was even making Pet nervous. Kelly was already a disaster of tears and cried where she stood. Her words couldn't be comprehended behind her mutters and spasms of tears.

"I've got to go" the man kept repeating. "This isn't good, this isn't good." He tried to fasten the belt around him, but his hands were shaking too much and his mind too wound up to even focus. Pet took hold of his hands and brought it upon herself to do what he physically couldn't. Once secured, she held the man by the shoulders to steady him.

She nodded to him in question and he nodded in response to the silent question. "Go. Now, go!"

The man quickly did as encouraged and quietly slipped into the tree tops. Pet looked to the little girl and bit her lips together. Now to try and calm the girl down. If not for the girl's sake, then for her own. If it was one of the things she didn't like was a child in distress whether it be emotional or because of physical harm.

Roland continued to followed the prominent tire tracks through the forest and paused, listening to a series of furious roars. Burke exclaimed, "Tyrannosaur and it doesn't sound happy."

Another series of roars joined the first one. "_They_ don't sound happy" concluded Roland. They continued down the vehicle trail only to stop yet again. There was a second series of tire tracks and not far from it, a wench secured to a tree trunk. Roland followed the heavy duty rope with his eyes until it was out of sight, but what he saw next furrowed his brow. "There's someone up there."

Kelly and Pet felt the High Hide jolt and start to descend. The hybrid forced a smile for the little girl's sake and nodded. "See? Its alright. Everything's alright. I'm sure that's your father, now, coming to get you himself!"

But the hybrid found herself wrong when watching a group of people come into view beneath the tree. InGen. She screeched a shrill and hid Kelly behind her. The hybrid knew the men weren't going to be very happy at what happened to their camp and dreaded the worst. Surely they wouldn't bring harm to the little girl? Pet didn't care what they did to her for she knew it was coming, eventually. One can only run for so long.

Kelly began to cry as she tightly hugged the hybrid before her. The bottom of the High Hide's cage touched ground, Pet and InGen's team now eye to eye with each other. She snorted a hiss and bared her sharpened teeth in a growl. Her eyes were set sternly on that of the familiar hunter's.

Roland took one look at the hybrid and his eyes lit up in surprise. "_You!"_ He laughed to himself. "You're still alive!"

He reached for the cage's gate and opened it, stopping shy of going in when receiving a fierce shrill of a bark. He was mistaken, though. Her attention was not on him but on Ludlow instead. He felt a sense of dread wash over him at Ludlow's expense. He remembered everything his good friend, Muldoon, had told him of the hybrid. Nervously, Roland cleared his throat. "Pet.. is it?" He took a small step over to the hybrid shielding the little girl. "It's alright." She shrilled again. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Her raptor eyed stare lowered on Ludlow. "I'm going to enjoy disemboweling you."

She leapt up to attack the man but was stopped by Roland body checking her to the ground. The two slammed against the railing, sending Kelly into a panicked scream. She scampered to the other end of the cage, away from the fighting people. She yelped when two strong hands took hold of her by the arms and lifted her out of the cage.

Ajay tried to calm her. "Easy, little girl!"

Pet shrieked in rage and tried to fight the man off her but he was good. He was really good. He had her wrapped up from behind and his legs crossed over hers. She shrilled and tried to squirm loose. This man had her wrapped up good. The only other person she knew capable of restraining her was Robert.

"Stop fighting" Roland growled into her ear. "You're only going to make it worse!"

Pet snorted a bark. "I wont let you bastards kill me!"

"We're not going to kill you, Pet!" Good thing Roland was no rookie to wrestling and restraining wild animals.

If only he had a gun. Ludlow watched the frantic hybrid, disbelieving what he was seeing. So she was still alive. After he was told she was dead. He had been lied to. He knew better than to believe that two faced game warden from Hammond's zoo! His eyes took in every feature of the feral woman from her animalistic eyes, to her toothed jaws, clawed hands and finally to the signature sickle claws on her inner toes.

She shrilled and bucked within the man's grasp. "Damn it, Pet, I'm not going to hurt you!"

Kelly yelled out, "Let her go!"

Roland neared the hybrid's ear and spoke in a low voice only she would hear. "I knew Robert and know this isn't how he'd want to see you." He could feel the woman subside in her struggling. "And I know that little girl, over there, doesn't want to see you like this either." Pet snorted. "If I let you go and you start to act like a rapid animal, I will personally tranq your ass myself."

Pet's heavy breathing sounded something like a series of lesser snorts, her eyes never leaving Ludlow's. Even as he backed away from the cage's railing did the hybrid never look away from him. "What about him?"

Roland looked to the company CEO, noticing his face washed of all color and eyes wide with horror. "Should he try anything, he'll have to get through me first." She could feel the hunter's strong embrace start to loosen and she waited till completely loose.

Before Roland could stop her, again, she had jumped the railing and was now lunging for Ludlow. The force her impacting him knocked the air from his lungs and sent him to the ground in a thud. Pet held a clawed toe to the inside of his upper leg and a clawed hand to his neck. She growled, "I should rip you open from top to bottom, you damn coward!" Her shrieking startled the man and he shivered beneath the hybrid.

Dieter kicked at the hybrid, knocking her off the executive and sending her sliding in the mud. She got up to attack him next, but Roland beat her to it. A forceful punch sent Dieter to a knee. A second punch sent him to the mud. The hunter pointed at the hybrid. "This girl is under my protection! If _anyone_ dare try to harm her, you'll have to answer to me!" He cocked his rifle in emphasis to his warning. "Understood?"


	64. Survival In Numbers

**64 - Survival in Numbers**

Pet tore through the jungle and to where she remembered the trailer to be. It wasn't there. Why wasn't it there? Skid marks lead from where the trailer had been and over the ledge. She barked out and ran to the ledge to peer over it. There, hanging by a rope tied to a tree trunk was Ian, Sarah and Nick. Wait, there were only three people when there should've been 4. Where was Eddie? She looked around thinking she had maybe missed his car parked somewhere off to the side, but it wasn't. That's when she saw it.

The overhead spot lights that had been mounted to the vehicle's roof. "Oh no" she choked out, frowning to herself.

She returned to the cliff's ledge and called down. "Is everyone alright?"

Ian answered back. "Do we look alright to you?" Wait, why was she there? She should be in the High Hide with Kelly. "Where's Kelly!?" But the hybrid was gone when he looked up.

One at a time the trio climbed, Sarah taken back in seeing the hybrid hadn't been alone. A mud covered man wearing a tan hat and holding a rifle held a hand out for her to take, the woman accepting it. The three stranded people were assisted to safety as Kelly nearly knocked Ian over when colliding against him in a hug of relief.

Roland looked to the hybrid, her nodding an appreciative thank you. He approached her, lowering his gaze on her. "After everything you've been put through and yet, here you are ever insistent on helping them. Why?"

"Guess that's what distinguishes the animal from human. If I were to leave them there to die, I'd be no better than that piece of shit over there." She gestured to an oblivious Ludlow with a tilt of her head and aiming of her eyes.

"Hmm" the man laughed out. "Guess Robert was right about you." Pet lowered her brow in question. "You are more human than given credit for." He patted her on the head and walked away. A devilish smile upturned his stressed features in knowing how much she hated that, as his once good friend once told him. Her snorting a growl let him know this was still the case.

* * *

The group trudged back through the forest and to where InGen's camp had been. "Salvage what you can" Roland ordered out to the men. He approached the ruined satellite and frowned at it. Ian and his team joined as they circled the trampled piece of equipment. "Our communication equipment's been destroyed, and if your radio and satellite phone were in those trailers that went of the cliff-"

"They were" Ian interrupted.

"Then we're stuck here, ladies and gentlemen and stuck together thanks to you people!" He waved a hand at the people, Dieter pushing past Ian and giving him an acidic glare.

Nick spoke up next. "We came here to watch. You came here to strip-mine the place." He didn't like how the other man was challenging him and bowed up. "Back off" he spat.

Ludlow chided in next. "At least we came prepared." The snide tone in his voice set Pet off and she shrieked a bark which startled him.

Ian grabbed her by the arm to force her calm. "Five years of work and electrified fence couldn't prepare the other island and you think your Marlboro men were going to make a difference here?"

Nick nodded in agreement. "It's a looter mentality. You came to take. You have no rights..."

Ludlow was rather offended at the comment and snapped his attention away from the satellite dish and to the other man. "An extinct animal brought back to life has no rights. It exists because we made it. We patented it. We own it. Just like other experiments that shall not be named..." His blue eyes cut down on Pet pacing behind Ian and Nick.

"No man owns me" Pet spat back.

Dieter closed in on Nick again, this further setting Nick off. "You looking for a problem?"

"And I found you, didn't I?" Hs breath was rank with the residual traces of whiskey.

A spark of anger ignited a fire of rage in Nick and he grabbed the man, shoving him away. He was prepared to swing at him but Ian held him back just as Dieter's companions did him.

Roland cut in between the two men and forced them further apart. He planted a finger in Nick's chest, smirking. "I know you! You're that Earth First bastard!"

Ludlow was confused. "Earth First? What's that?"

"Professional saboteurs" Roland answered in disdain.

"Environmentalists!" Nick raged back.

"Criminals!" Corrected Roland. He looked to Pet. "And you're dealing with these people? I thought Robert taught you better than that." The hybrid snorted a bark and flared her teeth at the other.

Sarah had had about enough. "Knock it off!" She took a stance between the two rivalry groups. "Listen to me!"

Pet would rather not and rolled her eyes, trudging away. She sat down on a half broken crate and rested her chin in the palms of her hands. From the corner of her eye, she could see two men stare at her and hear them whisper under their breath. She shrieked and sent the two men scurrying to get away from her. She scoffed and shook her head, looking back at the conversing group of people.

She could hear her least favorite person explain. "There's a communications center here," he pointed to a spot on a map. "Near the old operations buildings." Pet's interested was peeked at hearing the mention of the central operations building. She knew that area all too well. Raptor territory, and they were very welcoming to those outside their pack. She tilted her head and slowly stood up to rejoin the group. That was a very bad idea. "Everything ran on geothermal power. It was never meant to need replenishing. If we can get here, we can send a radio call to the airlift."

Pet spoke up. "And I'm to guess you're to be leading the charge for this little quest?"

How dare she speak to him in such a manner! Ian interrupted. "Do you know the frequency?"

"Its right here in this book." He withdrew a small notebook from his pocket, but it was just as quickly taken from his hand by Roland.

"How far is the village?" Nick questioned.

"A days walk, maybe more." The CEO's attention was quickly stolen by a flask laying abandoned in the mud. "That's not the problem." He took a deep swig from the flask.

Roland was worried. "What is? What is the problem?"

Pet snorted out, "Velociraptors."

Ludlow pointed a finger at her from his continuing to swig from the flask. "Velociraptors" he repeated, resealing the flask. "Our infrared scans show that their nesting site are concentrated in the island's interior, which is why we plan to keeping to the outer rim."

Dieter cut in, his own flask in hand. "Wait, wait, wait. What's a Veloci...?"

Burke took it upon himself to answer. "Velociraptor. Carnivore, a pack hunter. About two meters tall, long snout, binocular vision, strong dexterous forearms, killing claws on both feet..." In his explaining, he had made his way to where Pet stood. "Something like her-" he motioned to the hybrid. "But more dinosaur and less... uh, woman." They two people met stares, Pet arching a brow. "What are you exactly? Did InGen make you, too?" Pet snorted.

Sarah spoke up. "The Rexes may track us, too, if they feel we're a threat to them."

Burke shook his head. "No, you're wrong there Dr Harding, we'll loose them once we leave their territory."

"No, don't bet on it." She rolled her eyes. "Tyrannosaur has the largest proportional olfactory cavity of any creature in fossil record, except one."

Pet raised a clawed finger. "Um, can I get an English translation please?"

Ludlow opened the flask again and finished off the rest of the liquor within in it. The group of people proceeded to bicker with one another, the hybrid sighing. Why did it always have to come down to fighting and bickering?

"Then we head for the village" Roland stated. "We might find shelter and we can call for help. Rex just fed, so he wont stalk us for food."

Ian was offended. "Just fed? You mean Eddie? You might show a little respect, the man saved our lives by giving his!"

"Then his troubles are over" Roland solemnly stated. "My point is, predators don't' hunt when they're not hungry."

Nick called out, "No, only humans do."

"Oh you're breaking our hearts," the hunter replied back over his shoulder. Pet gave one look to Ian before turning on a foot to follow the hunter. "Saddle up! Let's get this moveable feast underway!"

She met the man's pace, curious. "You really think those men stand a chance against a nest of raptors?"

"Better survivability in numbers. That is," he tossed a backwards glance over his shoulder to the men lingering behind. "If they can all keep up and stay together."


	65. Another Day In Isla Sorna

**65 - Another Day in Isla Sorna**

"You shouldn't be here" Roland began in a hushed voice, studying the hybrid from the corner of his eye. "He plans to kill you once he feels you're not needed anymore."

Pet already knew this and gave Ludlow a backward glance. No surprise he was tinkering with a GPS and trying to get it to work. She clenched her jaw in anger and balled her fists at her side. "I figured as much."

"I heard him talking to one of his big shots down by the coast when taking a break. Just thought I'd let you know." A part of the man felt obligated to keep a close watch on the young woman, given he and Robert's past. "For what it's worth, I truly am sorry for your unfortunate short comings."

Pet snorted and shook her head. "Spare me your sympathy."

Roland chuckled and patted the hybrid on the shoulder. "You really are Robert's kid, hmm?" There was a few minutes of silence between the two as they continued their trekking through the Isla Sorna terrain. "He couldn't stop talking about you for quiet some time after the incident on Isla Nublar. As soon as I got word from his sister on what happened, I went to pay him a visit. Quiet the lucky bastard to survive the raptor attack." He forced a smile for the hybrid who was watching him from the corner of her golden yellow eyes. "Of everything he had to tell me of you, he never told me how pretty you were."

Pet's eyes widened and her face distort in mild disgust. "Excuse me?"

"Not to be taken the wrong way, of course. I just imagined you to look a bit more different is all. More animalistic and less human." The two people exchanged glances. "I had mentally imagined a more elongated jaw, a hunched over form and even a tail."

The hybrid stiffened back a laugh. "A tail? Really?" Roland shrugged. "Thank God I was created without one. Back in the day I saw myself some deformed creature." She grimaced. "I'd hate to know what I'd be like looking more like what you thought I'd be."

* * *

Early morning gave way to daylight and then to evening. Rain traveled on the clouds welcoming the sunset and Pet frowned. Every time it rained around these people, bad things happened. She could only imagine what. She continued to lead the team through the fields and jungles, however, ignoring Ludlow and his persistence to go a different direction. She'd give him a stern stare and snort a bark, walking in her own direction. The rest of the team would follow her versus Ludlow, given how she knew the terrain and animal territories better than a GPS did. Eventually the man gave up and stuck with the group, preferring to travel towards the back and as far from the hybrid as possible.

The rain was starting to lighten up, now, bringing much relief to the already soaked travelers. Roland looked to the hybrid. "What animal territory is this?"

"We're more on the edge of two, really" answered the woman. "Triceratops is on the right and Ankylosaurus on the left."

"Two herbivores. Excellent." Once the rain stopped, Roland brought the group to a halt as well. Now was as good a place to set up camp for the night as any. "We camp here" he yelled.

More than happy to take a much needed rest, the travelers set them up a spot. Sleep didn't come easy for some when it started raining a couple hours later. Those who had tents allowed other less fortunate people to bunk with them while some chose to stay outside. Ian, Sarah and Kelly were holed up in one tent while Ludlow bribed his way in to stay with Burke in his. Mostly the people who took turns watching over the camp remained outside, bundled under their ponchos for both warmth and to stay dry.

Pet had neither tent nor poncho, but instead broke off leafy branches from undergrowth to make a sort of shelter. She laid them over a series of sticks crossed over tree roots and sat underneath it. The gap between the tree roots was just big enough for two people, Pet patting the ground next to her for Nick to join. At first he was skeptical, but eventually gave up to join her. He studied her behind a half expectant expression as though anticipating it to be trap.

"I don't bite" she stated.

"Somehow, I doubt that." He stayed as far to the opposite site of the little shelter as possible until sleep overcame the both of them.

* * *

Morning came and with it, clear sunny skies. "Wake up" Roland bellowed to the two people curled up together beneath the leafy shelter.

Nick and Pet grumbled, rubbing at their eyes and slowly coming to a realization their position against the other. At one point, they had curled up together during the night. He had an arm wrapped around her waist, which he quickly removed in sudden shock. "I'm sorry, I-" He didn't know how to apologize to the horrified hybrid as the color drained from his face.

Sarah snickered. "What's wrong, Nick?"

Pet stormed out from under the shelter, barking a shriek in annoyance. Roland cocked a brow at the woman disappearing from view. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To kill something" she ranted back.

Thirty minutes later, the group had caught up with Pet in her finishing up her breakfast. As soon as the group came into view, she tossed the remains of a Compy aside into the bushes and slid off the uprooted tree she had been sitting on.

Burke motioned for her to wipe her mouth. "You have something right there."

Blushing, the hybrid wiped her face and cleared her throat. "Right." Ludlow and Dieter were repulsed at the scene, Ian shaking his head.

"This way" the hybrid stated, lowering her head and trudging on.


	66. Stray Sheep

**66 - Stray Sheep**

Roland called, "Take a break! Five minutes!" A simultaneous sigh filled the weary group. The day was already a little over halfway gone and they felt like they had barely gained any ground closer to their destination.

Sarah shuffled over to a tree root and plopped down. She shed off her backpack and laid it at her feet, noticing Roland coming to join her. What did he want now? He took a knee before her and saw the front of her light brown shirt stained with blood. "Are you injured?"

"Huh?" She furrowed her brow in bewilderment to the man's question. He pointed at the front of her shirt to show what he was referring to. "Oh...no, its from the baby. I set its broken leg." She shrugged. "Its not drying in the humidity."

Behind the two, Ludlow stepped over and around peoples' feet stretched out into the path. When he stepped over a pair of sickle clawed ones, Pet lifted her feet in an attempt to trip the man. He stumbled, but much to her disapproval, he didn't trip. He shot the hybrid a sour scowl and she smirked, winking at him.

He rolled his eyes to the offensive creature and beckoned to the hunter, "Roland, a word?" The addressed man joined the CEO, Ludlow sighing, "I'd love to know where we are..."

Pet hissed a laugh. "What's wrong? GPS can't keep up? Or did the batteries die?" He gave the woman another sour stare. "Technology is _so_ unreliable, isn't it?"

"Perhaps you know where we are, then" he smarted back, planting his hands on his hips.

"Sure I do" Pet answered, smiling.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say we're lost! You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" Roland stood between the two people, lowering his gaze on the confrontational man.

The three people were so enthralled in their arguing that they didn't notice Nick wiggle past them and over to where Sarah was. But it wasn't the woman's company that brought him there. It was the gun. Roland's .600 Nitro Express to be exact. Every since teaming with InGen's group, he'd been trying to get his hands on it. At first, he thought that by getting good with the hybrid he could convince her to do the job for him. That idea quickly left him, however, when seeing how goody goody the two were and continued to be throughout the trip. His eyes settled on the prized object, left propped against the tree, and smiled wickedly to himself.

Pet and Ludlow continued to argue as Roland kept the two apart. Sometimes, it felt like he was babysitting the two people, seeing how they were constantly at each other's throats. Fight, fight, fight. It's all they ever did. One jab at the other would send the other into their own come back, thus resulting in scenarios such as this. He sighed, rolling his eyes. He couldn't wait to get to the central complex. Then he'd be rid of one or the other. Or maybe even both. As bad as the thought was, he kept mentally playing the man being chased or devoured by a dinosaur in his head. He was really regretting accepting the job, now.

Dieter couldn't take much more of the people arguing either. He had to piss anyway and saw it as an excuse to escape the childish squabbling. Seated off to the side and by himself was a Hispanic man, Dieter striding past him. "Hey Carter, I'm going to the ladies room." Had he paid attention, he had seen the man didn't hear a thing he said. "Wait for me here, okay?" He dropped his bag to the ground and strode off into the forest. Carter happily hummed to himself, oblivious of the other man and what he had said.

* * *

Holy hell was the arguing ever going to stop? For several minutes, these two had been launching an arsenal of insults at the other without break. "Alright, you two, _enough!_" Roland grabbed the hybrid and held a hand over her mouth to silence her. "You're only making it worse! He wont shut up with you constantly egging him on! Just _stop!_"

"Hmpf." The hybrid squared her eyes at the man and crossed her arms over her chest.

"And you" he turned his attention to Ludlow. "You're acting like a damn, spoiled child!" Behind him, Pet held up a middle finger and sneered at the CEO. Roland sighed. "Get your shit together and let's go. We've already wasted enough time sitting around." The man went for his rifle still against the tree where he'd left it and slid his hat back on. Nick only smiled and innocently waved him. "Okay, break's over. Moving on!"

Once more, the people grumbled in unison when getting up and continuing on with their trek. Their legs were stiff, feet sore and backs aching. For some not used to hiking on uneven ground, blisters had started to form on their feet. Such case was with Ian Malcolm. He might despise some of the men he was forced to keep company with, but he had to give it to them; they had stamina. He limped down the path, favoring his foot throbbing with blisters, and forced a smile for Kelly's sake. Being a father, he felt it his place to stay strong for the little girl. That and his pride forbade him to give in and verbally admit weakness.

Roland stepped aside of the group and up on higher ground to keep a visually tally of those in the group should anyone fall behind. It looked as though everyone was there. Wait, everyone wasn't there. One face was missing. Dieter. He debated on stopping the group, but waited. Dieter was probably trailing the back as caboose. As Roland stood there, waiting and watching, the last of the people strode by. He grabbed one of the men by the arm to stop him.

"Are you the last person?"

The dirty blonde haired man nodded. "Yeah. No one back here but just Carter and I."

Then where was Dieter? "Stop!" Upon hearing the order, the travelers came to a stop yet again. "Has anyone seen Dieter?" Everyone looked to the other in question, none having an answer.

Carter blinked in recalling earlier and heavily sat down in dread. "Uh, I think I saw him earlier..."

Roland turned to face the Hispanic man and intently stated at him. "When did you last see him?"

"About 10-15 minutes ago." Carter nodded to himself.

"Come with me" began Roland, ignoring Carter grimacing at the order. "And you. If he's still alive, we'll find him." He started walking away with the two men, pausing to observe Pet digging mud out from under her sickle claws. "You come, too. You know these parts better than anyone here." He then studied the many faces of the people looking to him in question. "The rest of you, keep right on. Ten minutes you should reach the ridge. Wait for us there."


	67. Plan of Action

**67 - Plan of Action**

The sight was too much for Carter to take. He gagged and grabbed at his mouth, lunging into the bushes and throwing up everything he had just snacked on. Pet was un-phased by the gruesome sight as she tilted her head to the side, scoffing. At least they had found Dieter, or what remained of him anyway.

"Great" sighed Roland. "This is exactly why we need to stick together."

Several, chicken sized dinosaurs chirped and emerged from the shrubbery, eager to finish the meal they had started. A couple more poked their heads out of the fern where Carter knelt, sending the man to the wet, pebbled covered earth. One of the Compy jumped onto the man, sending the already panicked man into a frenzy of flails. Pet bent down and grabbed the little dinosaur by its neck and broke it with a snarl. She tossed the dead creature into the rustling bushes where a series of shrieks and chirps filled the air.

The third man in the group helped Carter to his feet as both men glared at the menacing hybrid. She snorted in annoyance and looked down at the mauled carcass strewn about beneath the tree trunk. Roland was busying himself in searching the body for extra ammo and other weapons, succeeding in finding a knife stashed away within a boot.

He looked to Pet. "Help me roll him over." She nodded and did as requested, both Carter and the third man becoming ill at the sight.

"Pansies" she breathed out, holding the body in place as Roland searched the back pockets.

"Nothing." He stood up and stepped upstream a bit to rinse off his hands. "He had a gun with him...and a cattle prod. I'd like to find them before we head back to join the others."

Pet nodded. "Should be easy enough. Just look between here and where we had first stopped when Dieter first came up missing."

"I'd suggest splitting up to cover more ground..." he looked to the two men, gasping for breath after being sick. "But I think we're better off staying together."

"You mean they're better off staying with us." Pet and Roland nodded to the other in agreement. Right after the group walked away from the body, it was overwhelmed again by the hungry pack of Compy. "Goodbye Dieter" Pet snorted, a twisted smile on her face. "Karma's a bitch."

* * *

Just as directed, the group waited at the ridge for their missing companions. And waited, and waited, and waited. Day turned to night and Nick gave up at the thought of continuing on. "Looks like we're camping here for the night."

It irked Ludlow to watch the men that _he_ had hired follow the Earth First's jerk's direction. He clenched his jaw in anger and went to a decent area to sulk in. He gave a final scowl to the oblivious man before shifting through the pages of maps he had. Carefully he reviewed each one, studying the terrain in hopes of recognizing some feature that would help him identify where they were. Where they here? There was a stream leading through the area and he knew there to be one fairly close by. Or, where they here? The area was quiet uneven with hills. Oh damn it all! In a fit of frustration, he ripped off the top to his flask and helped himself.

A sharp bite startled him at his back and he swatted at it. Another bite at his neck. This time, he killed whatever it was that had bitten him. His eyes enlarged at seeing the dime sized mosquito smeared in the palm of his hand. Was this a natural size for this insect? Not wanting to fall victim to anymore, he fervently dug around in his bag to find a can of insect repellent. Not far from where he sat was Ajay wearing a dead pan expression at his expense. The hunter shook his head at the executive. City folk.

Late night crept upon them as the weight of traveling put the exhausted travelers to sleep. Ajay took him upon himself to be one of the first to keep watch over the camp and made himself comfortable with his rifle cradled next to his chest. Movement somewhere in the black engulfed forest got his attention and he shot his attention in that direction. At first, it sounded like a series of medium sized animals coming towards the camp, but the foot steps were too irregular.

"Roland" he stated and quickly got to his feet.

Ian had heard it too and he sprinted to catch up to the hiking group. "Did you find him?"

The hunter took a deep drink of the canteen offered to him by Ajay before answering. "Just the parts they didn't like."

Pet snorted a laugh. "Or what they couldn't find." She wiggled her pinky finger. "Who's a little guy?"

Roland smacked the hybrid upside the back of her head, but it didn't deter her from her making light of the situation. She continued to giggle, him continuing. "Map." He exchanged the canteen for the map his good friend handed him and flashed a light on it.

Pet leaned in to study it. "We should be about right here." She pointed to their rough location with a clawed finger.

Roland followed the approximate location down to a circled spot on the map. "The operations building is right down in there...about a mile and a half from the base of these cliffs." He drew an invisible circle around the mentioned area with his finger."

Ian looked from the map and to the hunter. "How do you know that?"

"I've seen it. Now the climb down won't be easy."

The hybrid sighed and rhetorically questioned. "What of this little excursion has been easy?"

"We'll let them sleep one more hour." Roland studied the many resting forms of the people dotting the terrain. "And then we'll hit it." He clicked off the flash light and stood up, leaving the other three people to themselves in the dark.


	68. At Least Its Not Raining

**68 - At Least It's Not Raining**

Pet had inadvertently let herself nod off. She wasn't used to all the excitement of running and hiking as she had been in the past. Before, when working with Robert, running and chasing animals was a typical day. Hiking through the savannah and or through the jungle was a joke. Since being left on the island, her days had mellowed out to a more slower pace. Sure, she'd still hunt down the occasional animal but that was a once every 3 days event. She'd take the meat and make it into jerky to eat over the course of several days before needing to hunt again. She didn't have to worry about running for her life, as she had already staked out her territory and made it well known to other predators that area was claimed. Once in a while a juvenile raptor would wander into it, trying to challenge her only to find its self unsuccessful.

Things really had taken to working out for the hybrid. That was, until Ian Malcolm and InGen showed up to ruin it all. Now, it was back to the running and miles of hiking and running. Roland watched the peaceful hybrid fall deeper into a sleep and debated on waking her. He reached out to shake her awake, but stopped. No. She needed her rest just as much as the others. She needed to stay sharp and alert and the only way to maintain that was to get ample rest.

He called his hand and sighed, leaning against his rifle. There really was a sense of calm about the hybrid and he smiled. Her eyes opened, them being blue green, and locked onto Roland's. The sense of calm was replaced by uncertainty when her eyes shifted to the golden yellow of a raptor's.

"What is it?" The man questioned.

Couldn't he feel it? That vibration in the ground growing stronger with each passing thud. She sat up and glanced around, sensing the source of the vibrating steps drawing closer until they stopped. The soft growls woke Carter from his slumber, him waking to find what he originally thought to be a nightmare. A T-Rex and just a few feet shy of where he laid. His yelling in Spanish rudely woke the others around him, thus causing a chaotic chain reaction.

The Tyrannosaur loudly roared, bringing people slow to wake up wide awake. Another Tyrannosaur joined the first one, further sending the camp's residents into full panic. Pet leapt to her feet and ran towards the yelling with Roland in tow. The man raised his gun and took aim, pulling back on the trigger. Click. What the-? That's wasn't right. He opened the gun to find two rounds within it, but in closer examination found them only to be casings.

He threw the empty shells to the ground, cursing out "Bastard" and went to tent housing weapons stores. The hybrid was at his heels. "Remind me to thank your damn Earth First boyfriend for fucking up everything _yet again!_"

"He's not my boyfriend" Pet spat back in a growl. She watched Roland go for a heavy case containing tranquilizers. "Do you think that'll be enough for that thing?"

The man loaded a tranquilizer into the chamber of its respective gun, answering. "This is a highly concentrated dose. It'll be more than enough." He looked to the woman. "Go, help the others. I can handle myself."

She nodded and bolted from the tent to run after the Rex chasing down the frantic people. Up ahead was a body face down in a mud hole and she visually examined it in passing by. "Tough luck, eh Carter?" The hybrid followed the screams to find one of the Rexes having cornered the people behind a waterfall.

It pulled back its head to reveal Burke dangling from its jaws by an arm. Pet roared a shrill and charged at the Rex, leaping upon its hunch and digging her sickle claws into its flesh. The dinosaur dropped the man to the ground as it spun around trying to shake off its opponent.

The hybrid called out to the wounded man, cradling his mauled arm, "Get out of the way! Run, something, _move!_"

Burke did his best to crawl away from the lumbering dinosaur roaring in a fit of anger. Pet leapt off its haunch and landed onto the ground, falling backwards to avoid the massive jaws from seizing her in them. Ian ran up to the scene and stopped dead in his tracks, daring to not move when seeing the battling Rex and hybrid. Pet leapt out of the way of getting chomped on again and shrieked out to keep the animal's attention. She snorted and took off running into the forest with the Rex in pursuit.

Ian rushed to Burke's side and went rigid seeing the mauled arm. "Where's the others?"

The injured man stammered, "I-In th-th-the cave."

"Cave?" He looked to the waterfall and ran inside it to find the other people clamoring to each other in safety.

* * *

Pet slowed down just enough to let the Rex catch up to her before she attempted another attack on it. She wanted to keep it focused on her and not the people it had been chasing. She jumped onto its leg and raked her claws into its skin, pissing it off and causing it to roar in anger. It stomped its leg and Pet fell to the ground, scampering to get away.

For nearly a mile she kited the beast until she found herself in an all too familiar grassy field. She snorted and barked out in distress, signaling for the field's occupants. Just as the heads of 4 Velociraptors raised, she ducked down out of site and stopped moving. The Rex erupted from the tree line and into the field, roaring at the small pack coming towards it. It roared and stamped its feet, shaking its body to rid of the predators. Pet saw it as a chance to make her own escape and she did, breaking into a high speed run back the way she had come.

She was three quarters back when she came across Ian leading the others through the forest. Draped over and leaning against one of the men was Burke, there being a strip of shirt tied around his arm as a tourniquet. Ian looked to the panting woman. "The Rex?"

She shook her head. "You wont have to worry about it." That was a good enough answer for him. The hybrid leaned against her knees and panted for breath. A huff of a laugh escaped her and she looked up to meet the man's taken back expression. "At least it's not raining, right?"

What? "What a bad time for a joke, Veronica."

Pet aided in supporting Burke, continuing. "Go on, Ian. Go call for help. Just stay together, whatever you do."

"What? What about you?" His horrified eyes studied the woman. "Where are you going?"

"I need to get this man some help. I'm taking him back to the camp. Straight ahead is the central compound. _Go!"_

"No, no, no, no, no you can't do that! There's a very angry T-Rex back there!"

Pet barked a growl at the man and bared her sharp teeth. "I know what I'm doing. _Just get your ass out of here!_" She and the other man assisting Burke stayed behind while Ian lead the others through the jungle.


	69. Sick Sense of Humor

**69 - Sick Sense of Humor**

Burke struggled to remain conscious. His weight was becoming more and more burdensome to the two damn near dragging him through the forest. "Stay with me" Pet said, firming her grasp on the man's uninjured arm. "Come on, buddy, stay awake. Almost there."

The man's footing gave way and he slouched, bringing Pet and the other man with him to the ground. "He's too heavy" groaned the other man.

"Shut up and grow a pair" she wheezed, fighting to get back to her feet. "When I was 13, I picked up and carried a man twice my age, height and weight for quiet a good ways. You want to talk about heavy? That man was pure muscle, too!" The two people were back to their feet and carrying the injured scientist. Up ahead, she could see the form of a Tyrannosaur sprawled out along the ground and figured it to be asleep. She yelled out, "Roland?"

At hearing his name, the successful hunter leapt to his feet to visually search for the woman. "Pet?" He could barely make out their forms through the steam clouds growing in the area. Something was wrong. She was carrying something, no someone. Someone was hurt. He took one look at the heavily sedated Rex and wasted no time in running to join the people. He shoved the other man out of the way to aide the hybrid. "What happened?"

"The Rex" she panted out, leading them to a tarp stretched out on the ground.

Roland ordered the fatigued man, "Get the med kit of the tent over by the tree!"

Grumbling, he did as told and disappeared within the tent to find the kit. Pet resumed. "It grabbed him by his arm and was about to make him into an _hors d'oeuvre_."

"You have one sick sense of humor, you know that?" The two people lowered Burke onto the tarp, the man loudly groaning in pain.

He clutched at this arm and cried out as the third man rejoined them, white emergency med kit in hand. Roland ripped open the case allowing him and Pet to dig through its contents. Together, the two people began field treating the scientist, Roland giving him a shot of morphine as Pet began washing off his arm.

It looked a lot worse than it actually was. Thankfully it hadn't been bitten off. All that had been done to it was punctured tissue and several broken bones. Had it not been for someone's quick thinking in making a tourniquet, the loss of blood could've been fatal.

After 20 minutes of endless working, Burke was as treated as he was going to get. Pet wiped her sweaty brow with the back of her arm and sighed. "That's all I can do. I'm no professional field medic so don't expect me to set any bones."

Roland nodded. "Better that be left to the medics." They looked to the other, Pet frowning.

Groaning from off to the side got her attention. "Is someone else hurt?"

He glanced over his shoulder to the source. "No, unfortunately. That's just Peter waking up from _drinking himself_ under. Damned idiot slept through everything. Too bad he didn't get stepped on."

Pet arched a brow in amusement. "And you say I have a sick sense of humor."

Roland lowered his gaze to the ground. "You should leave before he wakes up."

A look of insult passed over the hybrid's expression. "Should he see you when he wakes up, I have no doubt in my mind he'll try to kill you." Their gazes locked and he frowned, the weight of the situation sinking in his chest. "Go, Pet. Run. Get out of here."

"But-"

"Go!" Ludlow grumbled again, his form becoming visible in his sitting up. His back was turned to the group, Roland pushing the hybrid away. "Go!" He growled under his breath. "Please!"

Pet's eyes started to water and her lip tremble. "Tell Ian I said I'm sorry."

The hybrid leapt to her feet and took off into the forest, her foot steps matched only by the beating of her heart in her chest. In those minutes of mindless running, it was as though her life was flashing before her eyes. She had schemed ways of stowing away in a crate back to mainland or maybe by chance, be given a pardon from Ludlow and be allowed to live in peace. She ran. Ran from what could be her last chance to return to humanity. Her chest grew tighter with each breath and her legs start to ache in muscle cramps. She ran. She wouldn't stop.

Helicopters could be heard flying over the jungle canopy and she knew more people would arrive. As it seemed, Ian and his team were able to call for help. Good. She was relieved it all worked out for the group of people. When her legs and body refused to move as one did the hybrid collapse to the ground, heaving deep breaths. Her head swam and her body tingled everywhere like sharp needles were being driven into every inch of muscle. She tried to move, tried to push herself but she couldn't. Her body refused to cooperate. Finally she gave up and just laid there, letting exhaustion take its course.

* * *

Silence. The jungle was completely quiet. No men talking. No machinery. No helicopters. Nothing. Complete silence. Pet whimpered in protest to moving, but couldn't take the quiet anymore. It wasn't right, especially given the level excitement that had been going on over the past couple days. After an hour of motivating herself, she was finally up and moving but barely. Limping, she returned to where the InGen camp had been. There was nothing left of it. No tarps, tents or equipment. Everything was gone. She was alone once more. Heaving a sigh, the hybrid sunk to the ground and buried her face in her hands.

For days, she roamed the island and pecked through the traces of InGen's crumbs left behind: an empty case here, a coil of cable there, a broken lamp or two. Maybe this time, InGen had learned their lesson and would stay off the island. Hell, _any_ man for that matter. These animals weren't anything to mess with, despite how much control anyone thought they had over them.

She slowly made her way back to where Ian's trailer had been and sat down on the cliff's ledge. In her examining the ocean sparkling beneath the sun, she saw...ships? And a lot of them for that matter. "Oh you've got to be shitting me..." she huffed.

One in particular lead the group and she frowned. Had InGen finally said to hell with it and sent an army of military ships to strike the island down with long range missiles? Such was not the case the more she watched. She followed the ships' direction in their going to the island's dock, where a T-Rex was lifted from a cargo hold and lowered on the shore. The hybrid was taken by surprise. Wasn't that the same Rex Roland had tranquilized? Why was it being returned to the island? And why was the unloading ship in such a hurry to leave? As quickly as it had come, it left.

"Well okay then" she breathed out, watching the sleeping adult Rex and baby where they laid.


	70. She's Alive

**70 - She's Alive**

After everything had calmed down, Ian Malcolm found himself pulling up to John Hammond's mansion, still unsure if this was a good idea. He drew in a deep breath and reached into the right side of his leather jacket, making sure he still had the envelope. He mumbled to himself. "What the hell are you doing? You're...you're trying to help her, that's what you're doing..."

Ian slid out of the car and attempted to appear as though casually striding up the front door. It was hard to appear casual when constantly looking over the shoulder with the anticipation of being spied on. He went into the mansion and in ignoring the butler chasing him from the base of the stairs, approached the man's bedroom door. He knocked on it, anxiously waiting for an answer.

The butler continued to repeat, "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. You can not be here."

Ian finally set his dark eyes on the butler and stated in a cold tone of voice, "I am here to see John Hammond and like hell you're going to stop me."

The bedroom door opening startled both men as they turned to see a rather pale and weary Hammond stare back at them. His features, however, brightened when he saw Malcolm. "Ah, Ian! Come in, come in!" Hammond gestured for his visitor to come into the room to talk privately and glared angrily at the butler. In the heat of the stare, the hired help lowered his head and quickly left. The wealthy man shut the door and turned his smiling face back to Ian. "So, what brings you back here? I wasn't expecting to see you again, especially in light of everything that has happened."

"Funny how chaos works, huh?" Hammond's smile faded into a glower. "Here, I thought you might want to take a look at this." Ian withdrew the envelope from his jacket's pocket and handed it to the older man.

Peeling open the fold of the envelope, Hammond slid out a wallet sized picture showing an all too familiar face. "Pet...?" His blue eyes locked onto Ian, confused. "She's alive?"

"Oh yeah. She's very much alive and not happy, that's for sure." Hammond, still holding onto the picture, strode over to his bed and heavily sat down, lost on what to think. "The other _team_ knows she's alive, too. They tried to bring her back to kill her, John...and unless I'm wrong, should word of her get to the rest of InGen, they'll attempt to kill her again. And this time, I'm damn near certain they won't fail. Your nephew seemed pretty set on killing her as soon as he saw her, then."

Hammond set the picture down on the bed, solemnly shaking his head. "Yes, well, he seemed to have had an unfortunate encounter with the Rex before it was sent back to the island."

"She's not safe on that island, John."

Hammond nodded and released a breath he had subconsciously been holding. "I'll assemble a team, then, to try and recover her...before _they_ can."

* * *

**Whew! And so completes the Lost World chapters. Now.. onto the next bit I've taken to calling the Recovery bits. Its been a long road through hell for Pet. Will she finally get what she's been longing for all these years? :)**


	71. Meeting With InGen

**Here begins my 'Recovery' segments, bringing back one of my all time favorite OC's previously introduced in another chapter, What They Don't Know.**

* * *

**71 - Meeting With InGen**

She could feel it starting; the illness flaring up. Her body ached and burned with a fever she knew would continue to spike. There were no meds to take and no one to help her. She weakly snorted in her stumbling through the forest under growth and collapsed to her knees. Her throat was on fire and swallowing anything felt like swallowing acid. Pet tried to get up to return to her place of safety only to find it impossible. She hurt all over and choked out a bark as she fell to the soft, cool earth of the forest floor. Thunder rumbled in the distance and Pet knew that with it would be rain. Not caring, the hybrid laid on the ground and gave in to the unconsciousness starting to drag her under in its currents.

* * *

Buzzing from an alarm clock filled a quiet, dark room as it flashed 5:30 in the morning. Surely it wasn't time to get up was it? He felt as though he had just laid down and grumbled in protest of the offensive object's constant buzzing. Derek Muldoon rolled over, his dark brown hair a tussled mess on his head, and slammed a hand down on the night stand. He groggily began feeling around for his alarm clock when he heard it fall to floor and roll under the bed.

"Damn it all to hell." His arm limply hung off the side of the bed as he debated on either retrieving the alarm clock or ignoring it in an attempt to snooze a bit longer. He knew eventually it would time out after a few seconds, which seemed to feel more like grueling minutes the more it continued to buzz. Eventually, though, every thing returned to the peaceful quiet as it was previously, Derek heaving a breath and drifting back to sleep. No sooner had he fallen back asleep when the clock's alarm went off again, this time it seeming slightly louder than the time before. "Alright, alright, already!" He pushed himself upward to a sitting position and reached under the bed to fetch the blaring alarm. "Piece of..." He switched off the alarm and tossed it on the nightstand. He scratched at his head and cursed under his breath as he strode to the bathroom for a morning shower.

It was now 8 AM with clear sunny skies looming overhead of the InGen headquarters in Palo Alto, California. The day seemed it couldn't get better, but company executives seated around a polished, oak conference table felt otherwise. They exchanged nervous glances before finally gawking at a middle aged man, seated at the end of the table and appearing greatly out of place. Unlike the others present in the room clad in expensive suits, the unknown individual wore what appeared to be a worn military, olive green uniform and a just as worn out black cowboy hat. A woman seated to his right wrinkled her nose in disgust at the man's, mud encrusted boots propped on the corner of the table and him lounged back in the brick red leather chair.

He could hear them whispering to each other in obvious confusion and he peered up from beneath the rim of his hat to sneer at the staring faces. He huffed a chuckle and glanced back down while continuing to dig under his finger nails with his black boot knife. Behind him, he could hear one of the heavy wooden, double doors open to reveal InGen's newest CEO. He appeared to be in his mid 30s and wore a black suit to match his almost black, neatly groomed hair. Though he tried to appear professional in appearance, the stress of the company being under fire for the San Diego Incident was evident in his icy blue eyes.

His gaze fell on the oddball of the group and winced a disapproving smile at the man's lack of professional appearance. But what did he expect? After all, this man was a well renowned hunter in and recently arrived from Australia. The CEO spoke. "Ah, Reynolds...Virgil Reynolds. I see you were able to make it after all. Good." In his striding past the game hunter, he paused to stare at the mud encrusted, combat boots resting on the table. "Mr. Reynolds, I'm sure the aborigines in your neck of the woods don't mind your lack of manners, but here, we the executives of InGen do." Reynolds tilted his head to the side to better look at the man from beneath the brim of his hat and curled his scarred, upper lip. "Now, with that said, if you would be so _kind_ as to remove your feet from the table?"

The game hunter lowered his head again and closed his knife, tucking it back within its scabbard in his boot. "_Mr_. Stevens, you are the one who asked me to come here. Had I had my way, I'd be on the island right now looking for the bitch. Not sitting around -"

"Yes, Mr. Reynolds, I'm well aware of this but there is a reason why you were asked to attend the meeting."

Behind an arched brow of curiosity, Reynolds questioned. "And that would be...?"

A knock came at the conference room doors, getting Stevens' attention. He straightened his posture and pulled at the bottom of his suit coat, calling out. "Yes?" The head of a younger man in his late 20s peered into the room. "Ah, Derek Muldoon. I was beginning to worry. Come, join us."

He did so and quietly shut the door behind him. "My apologies for being late."

"You're not really late as we were just about to get started." Mr. Stephens smiled at welcomingly as he could.

Derek frowned at seeing there were no more available seats and decided to stand against the side wall to listen to the meeting. His eyes fell on Reynolds, who's scowling expression was studying him, in return.

The game hunter snorted a laugh. "A bounty hunter. Does your uncle know you're here? I'm sure he wouldn't take too kindly to it, should he find out what with his little _Pet_ being the hunted."

Derek rolled his eyes away from the older man. "What I do is of my own concern; not yours and certainly _not_ of my uncle's."

"We'll see." The older man slid his feet off the table and sat up, crossing and leaning his arms on the table before him. "Now, tell me Stevens, what do I need to know about my target?"

Derek cut in. "_Our_ target."

Virgil softly chuckled. "No offense, kid, but this isn't your area of expertise. This thing hunts and kills like a predator."

"And she also has the ability to think and reason like a human being on the run. I've seen some pretty crazy shit in my time and know how people think when being hunted." Derek's brown eyes rested heavily on the militant dressed hunter. "Do you?"

The older hunter shook his head and scratched his chin. "I don't think this thing is running from parole."

Stevens spoke up. "Gentlemen, please, let's just-"

Derek continued. "Tell me, what do you know about the target? That's she's some mindless animal with a predictable hunting pattern?"

Both people studied the other, a sneer on Virgil's face. "And I guess you know everything about her then, hmm?"

"I've spent enough time being around my uncle to know what to expect after hearing the stories he's had to tell about her. You don't hunt her, she hunts you. And should you be so _fortunate_ enough to find her, it's too late. You've already fallen into her trap." It was Derek's turn to sneer.

Virgil leaned back in his chair and folded his hands in front of him with elbows propped on the arm rests. "I'm looking forward to it, already." His scheming, half smile rested on Stevens as he drummed his fingers against each other.

The CEO nodded in understanding and leaned against his own chair at the head of the table. "Eager, I see. Excellent. Let us get this meeting underway, then. There's a lot to discuss."


	72. Close In Pursuit

**72 - Close in Pursuit**

Almost two hours later, the meeting released and Derek was about to leave the board room until he was stopped by Stevens. "Mr. Muldoon, one minute of your time, please?"

He grumbled and released the brass door handle, watching the door close him back inside the room. "You've already gotten roughly 120 minutes of my time, Mr. Stevens. How many more are you expecting to take, now?"

The CEO didn't appreciate the snide tone of voice the younger man was displaying. "I'm concerned over your involvement with this little hunt and how it relates to you."

"Should've thought about that before you called me offering the job, _sir_." Derek defensively crossed his arms over his chest, already more than annoyed at the other man.

"Everyone knows of your uncle's connection to the target. I-"

"I haven't seen or spoken to him in a little over 3 years, so whatever concerns you have over my running off and telling the world of your little hunt, piss off." Stevens seemed slightly offended. "I wake up, I do my job, I get paid, I go home. That's all I care about. Anything or anyone who happens to get in my way will most likely get shot or come up missing. I've already killed 4 people in the past year. Why? Because they got in my way. I take my job very seriously, Mr. Stevens, and am not about to let some washed up, drunk relative from my past ruin it for me. So with that, good day."

Derek turned and strode out of the office, leaving the CEO fuming under the collar in his wake. Through the building he strode and out to the parking garage, getting his keys out of his jacket pocket and clicking off the alarm to his red Dodge Challenger. He knew he was being watched, for he could see the familiar black cowboy hat visible through a black truck's window, not far away. When Derek strode past to get into his car, the hat slightly turned as though the head it was on were tracking the younger man. Derek didn't care. Let people spy on him. He didn't have anything to hide or be worried about and tossed his car into gear, driving off in an echo of squealing tires.

Virgil slimmed his gaze down on the younger man and reached under the seat of the truck to retrieve a loaded .45 Beretta. He didn't particularly feel comfortable with the bounty hunter tagging along, seeing how he was a possible compromise to the mission, and drove off to follow the red Challenger.

For a couple blocks, chocolate brown eyes continued to watch the black truck follow him, it annoying Derek. He didn't really like being followed and thought of a way to shake the person. He merged onto the interstate and watched the truck do the same. Exactly what he was hoping for. He sped down the road and watched as the truck wove between vehicles to catch up. What was it with this guy? Derek changed lanes, buzzing past exits and waited for the right moment to execute a plan he had been devising. Up ahead was a semi truck, Derek speeding up to it to get in front of it before the next interstate exit. He gazed back in his side view mirror to see the black truck catch up to him, it now being two care lengths away, and smiled to himself.

The next exit was only 1/2 a mile away and still, the truck getting closer to the Challenger. Seeing the exit coming up fast, Derek checked his passenger side view mirror to make sure no vehicles would hinder his plan. A white car was back away and coming up the far outside lane, Derek hoping it wouldn't hinder his plan. His attention shot back to the driver's side view mirror and then to the exit, now only 30 yards away. At the last second, Derek swerved over to the far right lane and quickly tapped on the breaks so as not to over shoot the exit. He barely missed the guard rail as the white car honked at him, but he didn't care. His plan worked, for he didn't see the black truck behind him anymore.

Virgil could see under the semi-truck's trailer what the reckless, younger man did and cursed out loud. Clever little prick. He had used the semi as a means to block the follower from further pursuing him. Though the ragged hunter was pissed about loosing his target, he had to give props on the move and proceeded to the next exit to turn off. He knew the younger man would be long gone by the time he back tracked to the exit, but it was okay. He'd get his chance to rid of him on the island. It might turn out better in the long run, anyway. There was always the excuse of him being killed by a dinosaur and who would chance going to the island to find out for themselves? Virgil smiled to himself.


	73. Relaying the Message

**73 - Relaying The Message**

Derek pulled up to his apartment and parked in the tiny, single car garage he had to pay extra for. It was worth it, though, especially when avoiding stalkers. The only downfall was because the garage was so narrow, he was barely able to open the door enough to get out. The young man slid between his car and the wall to get outside and closed the door. Out of habit, he looked around half expecting to see the black truck, or anyone for that matter, and scoffed to himself. Seeing he was alone, he locked the garage door and went inside his studio style apartment.

There wasn't much to it. Just a futon style bed with a decorative quilt tossed over it and nightstand nearby holding a simple lamp and alarm clock. At the foot of the bed was the closest and cattycorner from it was the bathroom door. Across the room from the bed was a TV stand with a flat screen mounted to it and a DVD player on the lower shelf. To the left of the TV stand was the kitchen, where the younger man went.

He opened the fridge and got a beer out, not caring how early it was in the day. He was about to go to an island full of dinosaurs and wanted to at least enjoy the day prior to flying out. Cracking it open, he plopped down on the futon and started to think. It was this hybrid he was supposed to help hunt down that ruined his uncle. But then again, she was also presumed dead, too. As much as he tried to play it off and lie to himself how he didn't care, Derek knew he still did.

Making up his mind, he reached under the futon to get a boot box out from under it and flipped up the lid. Inside it was his passport, rolls of emergency cash, a few small pictures, a zipped up pistol case and a cell phone. Derek picked up the phone and turned it on, waiting for the start up before dialing a number he had memorized. He took another sip of his beer and waited for an answer.

* * *

Across the world, in Kenya, blood shot, blue eyes set in a scared face studied a recently taken picture sent from John Hammond. Along with the picture was a letter, but the letter remained partially read on the table. At first, Muldoon thought this was a prank until he saw the date the picture was taken in the bottom right corner. He brought a hand to his scruff covered chin and frowned. This whole time, she was alive. For the past 4 years, he had been lied to and told she had died to the Rex.

His thoughts, however, were peeled away from the picture and to his home phone as it rang next to him on the table. Muldoon reached over and answered it, expecting it to be Hammond. "You had better tell me what the bloody hell this is about!"

Derek had a feeling this conversation wasn't going to be easy and grimaced at the possible scenarios to which is could go in. He responded. "Hello, Uncle Rob."

"Derek?" It had been years since he had last heard from his nephew since their fight and wasn't quiet sure how to react.

"Look, I know I'm probably the last person you want to talk to, but-"

"Damn right!"

Derek grimaced under the weight of his uncle's voice. "But listen to what I have to say." He tried to calm his racing mind; trying to think of how to explain everything. "She's alive, Rob. Your little pet raptor girl or whatever. She's alive."

So it was true. She was alive and this wasn't some sick prank. Muldoon's heart sank and he released a labored breath. "How do you know this?"

Derek could hear the sadness in the older man's voice and frowned. "InGen has hired a team of professional and highly experienced hunters to go to the islands to try and find her. Last time they hired a bunch of half ass twits...and this time, they plan to kill her."

"And I suppose you're one of the hunters hired for this?" There was an edge to his voice, as though daring his nephew to say yes.

The younger man chose not to answer the question directly, but instead chose to answer around it. "InGen's team is flying out tomorrow morning at 7:50 on a private jet from the local airport." Silence from the other side of the phone was haunting to hear, Derek feeling slightly intimidated. "I know how much she means to you, which is why I'm risking a lot to tell you this. Do something about it before she's gone forever. Good luck." The younger man ended the call and turned it off, unsure if he did the right thing or not. He took another chug of his beer and plopped back against the futon, deep in thought.

Muldoon slammed the phone done, angered by the audacity of his nephew and of Hammond. The more the thought about it, the more he wondered. Would he be more angered over no one telling him the truth only for him to later find out for himself? Or was it better he be told now by the two people he felt he had left? He picked up the phone again, but this time to call Hammond. He was going back to the islands, no matter what it took.


	74. And So It BeginsAgain

**74 - And So It Begins...Again**

The early morning scenery of the airport outside scrolled through the InGen leer jet's windows as it took off, Derek sighing. He adjusted his .9 mil Glock's shoulder holster concealed beneath his leather jacket and shot a mocking smile to Virgil, seated across the isle from him. The younger man taunted. "If you hunt anything similar to how you drive, InGen is screwed. Not only were you careless and let yourself be seen, but you also lost your target."

The rugged hunter sneered. "Best to watch your back, kid. Never know when someone's gun might just..._go off_..."

Derek scoffed and shook his head, looking back outside. "I'm more concerned about what's on that island; not you and your team."

"Ignorance is bliss, hmm?" Virgil extracted a hunting knife from his belt and admired it in the sun, shining in through the plane's window. He chuckled to himself, watching the other man from the corner of his eye.

Meanwhile, Derek wondered if whether or not his uncle was on his own plane, flying to the island.

* * *

Stars of Africa's late night twinkled around the wing of a C-130 aircraft. The vibrations from the props could be felt throughout the aircraft and in the seat Robert Muldoon had nestled himself into. He know he should try and get as much rest as possible, but he wasn't tired. He was no where near being tired. Adrenaline from anxiety attacks kept him on edge and his mind strung up in anticipation of seeing his Pet. It had been damn near 4 years since the incident. Four, damn long years and he had felt every day of those years since. As sad as it was to say, things had been easier with the belief the hybrid was dead. Everyone who had grown close to the girl accepted it as the unfortunate truth and moved on. Or tried to at least. For Robert, there was no moving on.

In a seat next to him was a lumpy, loaded duffle bag pulled at the seams. Anything and everything he could fit inside it, he did. He knew all to the well the dangers of the island when the dinosaurs were contained and seeing how they were now unrestrained, the threat level had increased. He knew the dinosaur species all too well after spending as much time working around them and studying them as he did. Packs would be formed and territories established. The only problem was, which predator staked claim on what part of the island? How numerous were the packs? How many packs were there?

And it wasn't just the carnivores that posed a threat, either. The herbivores were very protective of their young and should anyone inadvertently wonder too close to a nest, things might not turn out so well. So much had changed and he wasn't even sure if he'd be able to keep up with the demands. He wasn't that much older than he was then, but was more out of shape. Gone were the days where Muldoon could hike up and through rough terrain and carry heavy bags while doing so. After the raptor attack, walking would sometimes become a chore depending on the extent of, the exertion behind it and even the weather.

The man shifted in his seat, paying no attention to the other 5 men seated throughout the aircraft's interior. They were game wardens from Hammond's zoo and were wholly loyal to the man. Muldoon recognized a couple of them from the days he worked at the zoo and knew he could trust them.

Muldoon could feel the boring gaze of one of his old co-workers and darted his eyes over to the black man. Amadi was his name. He was a tall figure and well known at being a fast runner. The African pressed out an attempted comforting smile. In his rich African accent, he spoke. "Don't worry, Robert. Everything will work out. We'll get the girl and be off that island before the others can find her."

Muldoon scoffed. "They have Virgil Reynolds on their team."

Amadi's smile shattered to disbelief. Any respectable big game hunter and or poacher knew Virgil Reynolds. He'd even been ballsy enough to come onto Hammond's zoo property and kill an elephant. He kept denying it was him, but everyone knew otherwise. Funny how he had managed to walk away from the entire incident scot-free given the damn good lawyer he had hired.

Amadi rolled his eyes. "I hope that son of a bitch gets eaten by a dinosaur or dies some horrible death."

The comment was enough to make Muldoon smile, something he didn't do anymore. He reached into his jacket's pocket to retrieve a flask and twisted off the top to take a deep drink. One of the other men in the plane's belly shook his head, wanting to say something but knew better than that. He'd heard stories of the man's quick temper and didn't want to get on his bad so early on. Staying quiet was the best thing he could do.


	75. Her Island of Peace

**75 - Her Island of Peace**

Three days had passed, but Pet didn't know this. Her raptor like eyes fluttered open to find her vision hindered by something on her face. She brought a weak hand to her face and began brushing away leaf litter stuck to her cheeks and forehead. Slowly coming to, she began to notice all of her was smothered in fallen leaves as though it a blanket draped over her by nature. She pushed herself into a semi half seated position to groggily looked around. Water drops collected in small pools in the leaves ran down her arms, back and chest as it's cool liquid felt refreshing. She still felt a bit warm but nothing how she felt a few days ago. Her throat felt a bit better, though it still a bit raw.

The hybrid scratched at her head to find her hair matted with leaves as well as mud. Great. That was going to be a pain in the ass to clean out later. She sat up all the way and finished cleaning away the bits of leaves. She needed a bath.

Within minutes, the young woman was at a nature made pond rippling at the base of a waterfall crashing over rocks. It was one of her favorite places and she stripped down before submerging herself in the water. Scars shown silver against the normal tan and darker brown patches of her skin. Along her left side ran a scar she rather not think about, given its origins and the memory that went with it; the Rex when trying to help Alan Grant and the others escape. Another more prominent set of three scars ran diagonal across her left shoulder blade from where a juvenile raptor thought it would take her on its next meal. Big mistake for it. Along her right leg stretching from her thigh and to her calf muscle was scar she had obtained from a Stegosaurs trying to fight her off from stealing from its nest. The omelet had been particularly good that day. Pet normally wasn't one to steal eggs from a nest, but she knew this certain female was infertile as all her eggs always ended the same way.

The water felt so good, never mind it being cooler than she usually preferred. Pet stretched out and began to float, closing her eyes to enjoy the sensations playing at her senses. The ripples tickled her skin and teased her scalp in a relaxing way. Oh how she loved moments like this when she felt nothing but peace with the Jurassic world around her. Her enjoying herself was abruptly ruined, however, when a growl and conjoining pain tore at her stomach. She was hungry. Maybe she could enjoy this just a little bit longer? Pet tried to push the thoughts of food out of her mind. She needed to wash her clothes. Yeah, she could do that.

She went back to the shore and retrieved her shredded clothing. Her once white tank top now resembled a grey, loose fitting sports bra and her shorts...well...the button was gone and the zipper permanently stuck midway. She had taken to using a piece of small, narrow rope as a belt and this was her good pair of shorts, too. Her other pairs were tattered with holes placed randomly along them from the different fights she had gotten herself into. She ran a finger through a new hole in the side seam of her shorts and frowned. Wouldn't be too much longer and this pair would be no good. Needles and thread were becoming harder to find. The only other needle she had on hand was one she kept sterile should she need it to stitch her self up again.

Oh well. Pet began rinsing and wringing out the worn garments until the fresh mud was washed out. Her stomach growled again and with it, a stronger hunger pain. She could feel herself start to get sick with hunger and knew she couldn't procrastinate hunting anymore. What was she hungry for, today? Compy meat tasted something similar to chicken, but they were such a pain to catch. Pet was always having to come up with new ways of tricking the little bastards to catch them. The old bait and cage method worked on some of the younger ones who hadn't quiet wised up unlike their older counterparts. Then there was always a good morning egg. A rump roast from a Gallimimus? So many decisions.

* * *

Derek stood, watching the two InGen contracted military helicopters descend onto the Costa Rica mainland tarmac. He tilted his head to the side. Coming up behind him was Virgil toting his rifle case in one hand and a tactical vest in another. He sat the case down and began strapping the vest to his body. "You afraid?" He questioned with a smirk.

The younger man didn't answer when collecting his back pack and rifle case from beside his feet. He squared his chocolate brown eyes down on the other and scoffed, walking towards the helicopter. The twelve men from Virgil's team split up and got into the helicopters, anxious to begin their hunt.

Virgil rode in the second helicopter and Derek in the other. The younger man scowled at the company seated around him and locked gazes with a rather cocky Australian who had seemed to gain favor with the team's leader. He wiggled his brows. "We're going to light you up good, boy."

"Because I haven't heard that before," Derek sighed out. "Marshal, right?" The Australian's upper lip curled. "Right. Well let me tell you...you scum are no different than the ones I get paid to drag back to the authorities. Tell me, how many of you shit birds are wanted for whatever crimes? I assume poaching to be some of your specialties and maybe even weapons and drug dealing." The 6 men he rode with glared at him.

One man, sitting to Derek's right, snorted. "I say we use this little shit as bait. Splice him open from head to nuts and let him bleed out. See what kind of game we can draw in."

Derek just smirked at the comments, his eyes still locked onto the man's seated directly in front of him. Once the helicopters were loaded with the men and their gear, they lifted off the tarmac and proceeded forward to what was sure to be some of the hunters' graves.


	76. Not Again

**76 - Not Again**

Raptor like eyes watched and studied each and every Gallimimus dipping their heads into shallow, lake water to feast on the soft, aquatic plant life within. Pet poised herself for a quick attack once she had found the weaker of her possible targets. Her breathing was light to avoid being heard and she crouched, motionless until time to attack. Off to the side and knee deep in water was a dinosaur that caught her interest. It was young, but seemed to walk with a limp. Bingo. Because of its injury, it wouldn't be able to run as fast and with it wading in water, it would be slowed down even more so. The hybrid flexed her sickle toe claws and growled lowly to herself.

Ready, set- What was that? A sound in the distance perked her ears and she cocked her head in the direction of the sound. As it grew louder, she was able to identify it as a helicopter. No, two helicopters. _Again?!_ Oh for crying out loud. The Gallimimus herd scattered at the sound, squawking amongst themselves and splashing as they ran out of the water and into the protection of the forest. Pet heaved a sigh in absolute frustration and barked a shrill in annoyance. Not needing to go check out the helicopters, Pet immediately began camouflaging herself with the loose mud along the lake. And she had just washed off not too long ago, either. Maybe it was just a bunch of tourists out to take a gander at the island.

* * *

Virgil stepped out onto the sandy beach of Isla Sorna and peered out at the tropical forest line stretching out before him. He shouldered his rifle and gathered his belongings from the floor of the helicopter. The men he had traveled with too got out and joined him. Derek stood at a distance from him, both men refusing to look at the other.

The team leader called to the bounty hunter without taking his eyes away from the jungle growth. "Better watch your back, young Mr. Muldoon." Now their gazes met, Virgil smirking. "My men have expressed their dislike in you and whoever they dislike tend to-"

"Can it, Reynolds," Derek interrupted. "Save your bullshit for someone who gives a damn." The younger man set down his stuff to pull out his map off the island and compass to study them. Without needing to be told, he picked up his stuff and trudged into the forest. "See you losers at the camp site." By the time Virgil and the rest of his men arrived to the predetermined co-ordinates for the camp, Derek already had a spot set up. "Glad to see you ladies finally show up." He grinned and kicked back, resting his feet on his backpack.

Marshal rolled his rifle off his shoulder and armed it, aiming it at Derek. Vigil intervened by standing between the two men, him glaring at Marshal. "Not now" he growled to the other.

Derek's smile got bigger. "Aww, see you do like me!"

Marshal flipped the safety on his weapon and lowered it. "Should've just let me kill this little bitch!"

* * *

Roaring of helicopter rotors tore through the air as they passed directly over Pet. She threw herself to the ground, blending in with the forest's earth, and waited for them to be completely gone before getting up. What had brought people back to her island? She was going to find out and made sure to stay low when proceeding in the direction the helicopters had come from.

By late evening, she heard them; voices. She peeked between two bushes to find a team of 8 men and heavily armed at that. Her raptor eyed stare kept a close watch on who she figured to be the alpha of the group. He was tall and broad shouldered. A black hat rested on a head wearing a strict expression. His tactical vest made him look more menacing as she counted several rifle shells strapped to it. Other than high powered rifles kept close to each one person, pistols were strapped to their thighs or kept in holsters at their chests. Knives could be seen attached to belts, tucked into pockets and even peeking out of boots. Miscellaneous types of equipment were laid out on a tarp next to a couple cans of ammo. She was able to identify some of the equipment to be night vision goggles, tazers, a box of grenades and duffle bag full of who knew what else. She raised a brow at the men. These hunters were nothing like the ones she had seen Terrance Mitchell lead. These men were out for blood. They were here for her. Who told them she was alive?

Ian Malcolm didn't seem like the back stabber to go running and telling InGen about her so it had to be one of the company's employees sent to tag dinosaur specimens for another sad attempt at a park. Ludlow. That piece of- She growled under her breath. Coming up from the side and weaving between trees were 2 other men. One of them was younger than the rest of the others in the hunting party and looked awfully familiar. Dark hair, dark eyes...so familiar. Pet was so close to placing where she had seen this person before. Then it hit her when his name was called by the alpha male of the group.

"Find anything, Derek?" Virgil planted his hands on his hips, eager to hear what the younger man had to report.

Pet clenched her jaw in anger and growled, digging her claws into the soft ground beneath her. How could she forget? Derek Muldoon. The all too troubled nephew of Robert who had come to Kenya a couple times for the summer. She remembered him, now, and was certain he remembered her too. So this was who they sent to hunt her down, was it? The alpha she vaguely recognized as well though couldn't quiet recall from when or where. She continued to listen to the conversation.

Derek shrugged. "Found InGen's ruined campsite a couple miles southwest of here."

"Anything of _her_?"

"Some old tracks around the site, but that's about it."

Pet down cast her eyes from the sight and bit back her urge to tear through them. She couldn't. There were too many of these armed men. She'd have to take them out one at a time. No way was she going to end up someone's prey. That's not how things worked on her island. She slowly retreated into the underbrush, careful to not make a sound or draw attention to herself.

* * *

**More to come as I get it written out. Once again, I'm back to having to bridge pieces of written content...Please let me know how its going so far by leaving reviews! They're always appreciated!**


	77. Not Alone

**77 - Not Alone**

Tires screeched on impacting the pavement of the runway as the aircraft jolted in response to. Costa Rica quickly panned through the aircraft windows allowing Muldoon able to see them at some remote airstrip appearing privately owned. They weren't far from the coast, given how the ocean came into brief view during the aircraft's banking to land. After a few minutes, the aircraft taxied off the runway and to a crew chief signaling it to a location to park.

The props spun down and the tires were chocked as the back cargo hatch was lowered. The aircraft's passengers unfastened themselves from their respective seats and collected their bags of gear. A stocky Costa Rican man wearing a bright red reflective vest approached the 6 men newly arrived from Africa.

He cheerfully spoke behind an ear to ear smile. "Welcome to Costa Rica, gentlemen! My name is Gabriel!"

"Again..." Muldoon grumbled. He drove his arms through his' duffle bag's shoulder straps and adjusted it until comfortable against his back.

"You must be Robert Muldoon. Mr. Hammond told me you and your team would be arriving sometime this evening." Gabriel gestured for the men to follow him. "There is a boat ready to take your team to the island when everyone is ready."

Amadi looked around the surrounding terrain and frowned. Standing next to a dust covered black truck was a suspicious appearing man hiding behind a pair of aviator shades and plaid button down shirt. Something about the man seemed a bit off, especially seeing how he was talking on the phone and looking directly at them. Amadi could see the rest of the team start to walk away and followed, making sure to keep a watch on the strange man.

Gabriel lead them past the phone chatting man and to three just as dusty trucks parked next to a Cessna's hangar. The team loaded up into the truck beds in 2s and left the airstrip via a washed out access road running behind the hangar line.

Meanwhile, the suspicious man spoke into the phone, "Hey boss...expect company. Muldoon and a few men just arrived on a C-130 and I'm damn near certain they're not here for the margaritas..."

* * *

Virgil's thin lips curled upwards in reflection of the malicious thoughts playing out in his head. "Copy that. I appreciate the heads up." He hung up the satellite phone and slid it back into his shoulder bag. His gaze turned to an oblivious Derek taking a drink of water. "Word gets around fast, Derek."

"Hmm?" The bounty hunter capped his half full bottle of water, curious what the other man was talking about.

"I was just informed your uncle is in Costa Rica with his own team. Coincidence?" Virgil arched a brow in curiosity. His smile broadened and became more dark in appearance. "I'd hate to know there's a mole in my team."

Three of Virgil's men stood up, weapons in their hands as they approached the man in question. Derek scoffed. "Hate all you want."

The last two of the 8 of Virgil's' team returned from their reconnaissance mission. "Mr. Reynolds, I think you might like to see this..." The forward of the two men motioned in a direction with his head, the alpha following. They arrived to a set of tracks leading away from a tree, Virgil kneeling down to study them. "She was just here by the looks of it."

"So it seems." He followed the tracks into the forest until they could no longer be seen. "Tonight, I want three men posted in a triangular position around the camp with night vision goggles. _Anything_ that moves...I don't care what..._kill it._" Virgil turned to glare at Derek. "And you...should I find out you're in cahoots with her or the other group, I'll shoot you myself."

"Like I said," Derek began defensively. "Its not me you have to worry about. That old man means nothing to me, just as my father didn't when I took care of business with him. Like I told Stephens... I wake up, I do my job, I get paid, I go home. I don't give a shit who it is. Their ass means payday for me."

Virgil scoffed a skeptical laugh. "We'll see." He harshly pushed past the younger man in his going back to the camp.


	78. A Swing and a Miss

**78 - Swing And A Miss**

A faint silhouette of mountains stretching the ocean's horizon blacked out the stars, letting Muldoon and his team know they were getting close. He never thought he'd back to this hell hole and feared the worst. Here, there was nothing to keep the animals at bay and he would only wonder what portions of the island were what dinosaur's territory. So much had changed. The island was quiet large and he knew Pet could be anywhere. Then came the worry of there being another possible team sent in from InGen. He remembered what his nephew had told him and was curious to know if they'd arrived to the island, yet, or not. Only one way to find out, and he greatly feared how that one way would turn out. Virgil Reynolds was well known to be vindictive if even to his own men. Somehow, Muldoon could see the adversary being one to hunt down his team. The troubled man studied each man's face in his team and saw a mix of different emotions. Some appeared scared, some determined and some looking as though they were questioning why they were here.

Gabriel stood on the bow of his boat with binoculars in hand and smiled. "Land ho, gentlemen!" He turned his gaze over to the men seated around the deck and approached their leader. "Might want to get your stuff together. We should be making land fall in roughly 15 minutes. I can't really bring my boat to shore, so everyone is going to have to take turns in the dingy."

Muldoon glanced towards the aft of the boat where the much smaller dingy had been tied up in tow. The thing looked more like something belonging in a salvage yard versus in use on the water and frowned. It was either that or swim to shore.

The ex-game warden stood up. "Get your bags ready, men. Amadi, you take the first group to shore while I stay behind to make sure nothing gets left behind." The addressed man nodded his head as everyone started securing their belongings and preparing to board the small boat.

Once as close to shore as Gabriel was going to get, he set anchor and watched the first group of men row to shore. He watched through the binoculars before passing them to Muldoon. Within minutes, the first group was on shore and Gabriel's deck hand returning with the dingy. The second group loaded up and proceeded to shore. Soon, the group was together again and awaiting their leader's orders.

Muldoon studied the man with a flashlight, Amadi assisting by holding the light. He used his now free hand to point to a south eastern spot on the map. "We should be here, given how there's only 3 real stretches of beach on this island. The rest of it are cliffs and unforgiving ones, at that." He squinted his eyes against the darkness. "I don't know what all is out there and if there's anyone else here besides us. Either way, don't wander too far from the group and take a wingman with you wherever you go. I don't care if its just to go take a piss... _always_ stick to the buddy system." Everyone nodded and followed the man into the unknown darkness of the jungle.

* * *

Just as Virgil had ordered, 3 appointed men did as told and patrolled a triangular perimeter around the camp roughly 30 feet out. This was going to make things a bit difficult for the hybrid. She'd have to keep her distance, for now, until she could come up with a way to take out each of the men. She had an idea, but wasn't too for sure on how effective it would be. She would have to lead the team further inland in hopes of them not realizing what she was going.

Slowly and being mindful of where she stepped, the hybrid backed away from her current hiding spot and ducked back into the woods. Gun fire broke the calm silence of the air, sending Pet to the ground and scurrying for cover. She could hear the man shooting at her yell out, "_Virgil! She's here!_"

Not good. She couldn't stay where she was and knew if she ran, she would most likely get shot. Panic took over and she bolted, trying to stay low while weaving between trees for cover. Bullets ricocheted off trees close by and at one, was pelted in the face by splintering bark. Their shots were awfully close for her comfort! Still, she kept running with her pursuer following.

Virgil bust out of his tent with a tactical Franchi Spas 12 shotgun draped over one shoulder and his much favored 30 Aut 6 rifle readied in his hands. "Where is that bitch?" He roared out.

Another shot whizzed past Pet, her feeling it go through her hair. She leapt over a 15 foot deep ravine and had she been running at a faster speed, would've cleared it. She dug every claw she had into the ledge in a desperate attempt to climb over it. The ground was too soft and it made it hard for her to keep a hold of the ground. Coming up behind her was the man that had been shooting at her.

He raised his rifle and took aim, mumbling to himself, "I got you now, bi-" and fired. The moment he heard the shot go off, he watched his target fall off the ledge. "Bingo. Pay day." The man cheered to himself and went over to the ledge to peer over it. He was really loving these night vision goggles as he could see the crumpled form of the experimental creature laying at the bottom of the ravine. "Not so bad ass now, are you?"

He looked around for an easy way down and saw the best he was going to get not too far away. It just required sliding down a fallen over tree. He shouldered his rifle and took to the tree, pausing when he felt it start to give beneath him. It was rotted. He should've known better and fell to the hard, unwelcoming ground beneath him. The air was knocked out of his lungs and he momentarily dazed.

"Damn it." He sat up, quickly realizing the night time goggles had fallen off and his gun no longer on his shoulder.

They had to be around there somewhere. He felt around in the dark and sighed in relief after discovering them not but a few inches shy of him. Smiling triumphantly to himself, the man slid them back over his eyes and turned them on. Next to him and leaning against the remnants of the tree trunk was his rifle. His smile was shattered, however, when finding his fallen target gone. Nothing was there. Thinking maybe he was looking at a bad angle or had the location all wrong, he stumbled over to the area he thought he had seen the hybrid. There was no mistaking it. She wasn't there.

A low growl behind him raised the hairs on the back of his neck. He knew not to turn around and didn't. He couldn't, anyway. It was as though his feet were anchored to the ground. The man whimpered and tightened his grip around his rifle's stock. He had to act or become the prey. Yelling out in a mix of fear and rage, he broke from his motionless stance and spun around to frantically shoot anything and everything behind. This was normally called a spray and pray as it made sense to the man. In his spraying bullets in a cone before him, he only prayed he hit something.

A voice behind him growled, "Missed me" before he felt it.

A sharp, breath stealing agonizing pain tear through every inch of his body and stemming from his neck. His screams echoed the air which let Virgil, Derek and 3 accompanying men know his location. The screams didn't last long, however, leaving the men in the dark.

Virgil ripped the goggles off the man leading the group through the woods and put them on. "Get out of my way" he stated in a low, acidic voice and pushed past the men. Within a couple minutes, they had arrived to the ravine. The man curled his upper lip in disgust and anger.

"Well" Derek questioned. "What is it?"

Virgil clicked off the goggles in exchange for shining a flash light down on the scene below. There, laying in a pool of their own blood was their lifeless team member. "Two men go down there and retrieve whatever you can off the body. Waste not, want not." Derek was going to go down with one of the men, but Virgil stopped him by harshly grabbing his upper arm. "You stay here with me" he ordered. Another man went instead.

Derek held a flash light on the men carefully descending down into the ravine while Virgil kept his on the body. The searching men starting going over the body, one calling up to their leader, "There's nothing here, boss. His vest, rifle, ammo magazines...even the night vision goggles... gone."

"Mother fucker" growled the team alpha.

Derek rolled his gaze from the men down below and to the very much angered hunter. "Now what? Not only can she see in the dark, but she's armed." Virgil glared at the younger man. "A swing and a miss on your part, hmm?"

"Fuck you" he spat and stormed away.


	79. A Rough Start

**79 - A Rough Start**

Dawn was just on the horizon and starting to brighten up the skies. Within the confines of her small shelter was Pet. The place wasn't that big, barely 10x5 in measurements, and beneath a series of rocks in the foothills of one of the islands respective mountains. Overlaying the front of it as a makeshift door was a piece of tent fabric she had salvaged from the island's supply stores. Inside the shelter were knick knacks of a sort ranging from empty soda cans cut open to collect rain water, as well as several others types of food cans containing animal fat and an oil created from the fat. In one corner was a first aide kit and next to it a gallon jug of clean water.

Sitting on the ground and shining brightly was a lamp fueled by the oil concoction the hybrid had been shown to make during a survival lesson taught to her by Muldoon. Kneeling in front of the lamp was the young woman, rummaging around through tactical vest's pockets. Sitting next to her on her bed mat were the goggles. Granola bars, a small emergency med kit and a flask was everything that greeted the searching woman. She tossed the med kit into the corner where she kept other medical supplies and studied the granola bar. She couldn't recall the last time she had had one and happily cracked it open. In three bites, it was devoured and the wrapper tossed to the side.

Pet's raptor eyes fell on the rifle leaning against the rocky walls of her shelter and she reached for it, examining it. She ejected the magazine and cleared the chamber before doing anything else with it and pushed the rounds off to the side. Now, to get down to business.

* * *

Morning came much too early for Muldoon and his men. Sleep didn't came easy for them as they spent the entire night in shifts watching over the camp. Not to mention the time change having a role in it. As morning was beginning, it would be evening in Kenya. However, Muldoon had no issues sleeping that night, regardless of time change. Tucked away beneath a limp hand was an empty flask, much to the dissatisfaction of his team mates. Was he going to be like this the whole time?

A couple of the men looked to Amadi for answers. The African sighed and shook his head, kicking the feet of the snoozing man. At first, Muldoon refused to wake up but after another harsh kick, he snapped awake and fumbled around for his rifle. "What? What is it?"

Amadi shouldered his bag, answering. "Its morning. We need to get going if we're going to find your girl."

"Right" he huffed out in trying recollect himself and his thoughts. He wasn't completely awake, that or was hung over if not still somewhat drunk.

Muldoon stumbled around for footing and used the tree he'd been asleep next to for support in standing. He stretched out his back, listening at the many pops from his joints shifting. He wasn't as young and resilient as he used to be. Before, camping and sleeping on the ground wasn't a problem. Those were back in the days when he and Pet would go out for a day or two and camp just to get away from it all. Pet. The reason he was there. His remembering her and the sudden relapse of dread for her safety sobered him a little.

He shouldered his duffle bag he had used as a pillow the night before and picked up his rifle he had propped against a root. That's when he saw it; his flask. He must've dropped it at one point and knelt down to pick it up off the ground. When he twisted off the top for a quick morning wake up shot, he found it empty. Grumbling, he shoved it back within his pocket and charged through the anxiously awaiting group of people to continue their trek. He vaguely recognized the terrain and knew there to be a road a mile or less away. From there, by following the roads laid out throughout the island, navigating the terrain would be much easier. That was also not taking into consideration what possible carnivore territories those roads went through.

* * *

Virgil chose not to sleep any that night as he was too much in a fit over the happenings that had occurred. Before, he was hunting a target he knew to be extremely dangerous if within close range, but at a distance was nothing more than another piece of helpless prey. He scoffed to himself. Such was not the case, now. The target had a rifle, which meant possible trouble and he was only down to two pairs of night vision goggles. Keeping an eye on everything would be a bit more difficult, now. Its not like it really mattered in the first place, seeing how the hybrid had already ventured as close as she did to the camp before finally being detected.

He had to give it to hybrid for daring to come so close. Either she was that reckless or that cocky. Virgil stepped out of his tent and scanned the man sleep deprived faces for one in particular. "Where the hell is Derek?"

His piercing gaze settled on a man hastily feasting on a MRE. He had worked with this man before and knew he could at least rely on him to some extent. He was good with a gun and had respectable long range skills any normal man would envy. At first glance, one wouldn't think so given his normal unshaved look and scraggly hair.

"Leon," Virgil barked, startling the man. "Where's the kid?"

The addressed man, Leon swallowed his bite without fully chewing it to answer. "On patrol duty." He pointed with a plastic fork south of the encampment.

The team alpha collected his shotgun and rifle and treaded off in the direction he was pointed to. The man was roughly 100 yards from the camp and sneered. There was no trace of the annoying bounty hunter anywhere. Had he met a similar fate as the last unfortunate bastard from the night before?

He grumbled to himself, "Piece of-"

"Something I can help you with?"

Virgil spun around to find himself face to face with his least favorite team member. "The girl...what do you know about her?"

Derek rolled his eyes off to the side in thought. "What is it you're wanting to know?"

"I want to bait her...to make her _have_ to come to me." The alpha's expression morphed into devious delight. "If I were to obtain a desirable piece of bait, say...Robert Muldoon?... Would she come for him?"

Anger, resentment, malice and the gut wrenching desire to shoot the man right then and there flooded Derek's thoughts. He clenched his jaw and squared his eyes down on the team leader. "Oh yeah, she'd definitely come for him. Good luck getting him, though. He might be a washed up drunk and a has been, but I can assure you he wont go down easy."

Virgil smiled beneath the day's old scruff starting to shadow his lower face. "Oh, that wont be a problem. Just need to put him at a disadvantage is all." He mockingly patted Derek on the shoulder and walked away, back towards the camp. Virgil could be heard yelling out, "Hey Leon, get your shit together. We're going on a little hunt."


	80. Desperate Times Desperate Measures

**80 - Desperate Times, Desperate Measures**

Extra ammo magazines had been loaded and stashed within his tactical vest as Leon threw his gun over his shoulder. He watched Virgil load a fresh clip into his 30-6 and nodded in acknowledgement to the unspoken order both men were mutually thinking.

Virgil gave the men still present in the encampment a last look over. "I expect the Muldoon kid to wander off once I'm gone. Should he follow through, let him. Don't stop him." The team leader rested his scheming glare down on the unsuspecting individual pacing around his post in the distance. "He's either going to go looking for her, or looking for his dear uncle. The only reason I haven't killed him myself is exactly for this." He scoffed a laugh and cocked a half smile. His focus returned to Leon. "Let's go."

Leon followed the order and kept in close step to the other man. "How do you know where to go?"

"I don't, but I know how to make him come to us. It'll take at least a day or two for any real results." He reached into a pocket of his vest for a folded up map of the island and passed it to Leon. "I figured we go here." Virgil pointed to a spot on the map marked 'Meadow' and resumed in his explaining. "I suspect the other team is around this east coast, somewhere, seeing how the docks are just north of this eastern point. My source on the mainland told me he saw them load up by boat and head out shortly after landing. I'm thinking they got here sometime last night. Robert Muldoon won't stay in one spot for too long. He probably knows we're after the genetic fuck up, too, and will be in a hurry to cover as much ground possible. With that said, I wouldn't put it past him to have ventured further inland."

Leon snickered to himself. "So what's the grand plan of things, boss? How do you plan on luring this looser to us?"

"Simple enough. Gun fire from the shot gun should roughly be heard from about 2 miles away. If my assumptions are correct, the others should be either just over or topping that ridge, there." Virgil pointed to an easterly line of high risen terrain stretching roughly close to 500-700 meters in height. "He's a bit of a paranoid person, Muldoon is, so when he hears gun fire he's sure to come running to find out what's going on."

"I see, I see. Clever thinking, Mr. Reynolds." The two people didn't slow in their strides the further on the day went.

* * *

Derek had long abandoned his post, choosing to take off into the jungle. His absence hadn't gone unnoticed, but just as they were ordered to, Virgil's men didn't pursue. Its not like any of them cared what happened to the cocky twerp anyway. The remaining men began to take bets on whether or not he'd survive. After all, they'd all heard stories of what had happened at Jurassic Park with the latest occurrence taking place on that very island. An armed team from InGen was dispatched, only to have a handful of misfits survive. And who would've thought at the end of it all, the man in charge of the expedition get it in the end on his own home soil.

The men laughed and continued to make light of the situation, refusing to believe the same thing could happen to them. After all, they were in control of the situation, right? They had plenty of guns, grenades, men patrolling the camp perimeter and a back up team waiting on mainland should they be needed. Oh yeah, they were in control.

* * *

A couple hours stretched on, leaving Derek a sweaty and nervous mess in the jungle. Every sound he heard, regardless of how innocent it seemed, he jumped. He didn't trust anything around him. A scurrying in the bushes nearby followed by high pitched chirping caused him to nearly jump out of his skin. He quickly turned out, rifle in hands and pointed to the noise's source.

Four small, curious dinosaurs leapt out of the ferns and into view. Derek took one look at the chicken sized, squeaking dinosaurs and laughed. "What the hell are you supposed to be?" The dinosaurs continued to chirp and squeak, bobbing their heads up and down when studying the much larger form. "Better watch it. I haven't had a good meal in a couple days and I never could pass up a good chicken dinner." One of the Compy got brave enough and scurried closer to the man, but Derek kicked out at it. The dinosaur was quicker than the man and had ran back into the bushes with the rest of its companions to hide. "I'm warning you" he stated and continued through the jungle.

He could hear the chirping behind grow in intensity and every time he glanced back saw more had joined the first four. Ten, sixteen and now roughly 25 of the trilling creatures trailed behind the slightly annoyed adventurer.

When he stopped walking, as did the dinosaurs. Whenever he would keep walking, they would scamper would keep up. "Why do I feel like the Pied Piper all of a sudden?"

Up ahead was a clearing in the jungle and he slowed down, finally becoming uncomfortable with the amount of followers he had acquired. In their bobbing of their heads, Derek had counted roughly 30 something dino chickens. He knew they weren't following him out of friendliness and kicked a bunch of dirt in their direction. It managed to scatter a bunch of them back into the bushes for cover, but not all. He wanted to shoot at them to deter them from following, something, anything to chase them off. As far off as he was from the camp, would his shooting a few of these pests be heard?

He raised his gun to the chirping critters and was about to pull the trigger until the dinosaurs took off running. Was that all it took to scare them off? A sudden unease rested its self on his shoulders and he knew it wasn't his gun that chased off the featherless chickens. He wasn't alone.

The man's chocolate brown eyes rolled in their sockets in the direction he heard foot steps come from. These steps sounded differently than the ankle biter dinosaurs for these were light and particular where they placed themselves. Usually prowlers were keen on their footing when stalking their prey, hoping to be undetected whereas this whatever it was that was approaching him wanted to be known.

The pounding of his heart could be heard in his ears and his breath seized in his chest as he heard a heavy breathing draw closer. Then it stopped. Everything seemed hauntingly silent and he feared turning around for fear of what he would come face to face with. Flexing his partially sweaty grip around the stock of his Remington 750 rifle, he drew in a shaky breath and slowly turned on his heel. Not but 8 feet away from where he stood was a pair of golden yellow eyes set in a mud caked face, curtained by long, matted, medium brown hair.

He blurted "Shit" and forced himself to remain calm, but found it difficult. He had been face to face with many different types of predatory animals and dangerous people with guns in his face and had held his cool well. But this time, it was different. Her stare froze the blood in his veins and sent a streak of horror down his spine. He slowly withdrew his hand away from the trigger and held it up, stating, "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you, I only want to help."

A sharp bark like snort erupted from the hybrid and she adjusted her poise as though preparing to attack the slightly older man in front of her. Still, ever so cautiously, the man unfastened the shoulder strap from the rifle and was preparing to lower it when the hybrid lunged at him. Subconsciously, he raised his rifle and used it to block the hybrid's clawed hands from reaching his face just as he fell to the ground upon being pounced on.

He could feel her signature, sickle like raptor claws tear at his tactical vest and feel her clawed hands tear at his knuckles in an attempt to disarm him. He wasn't about to admit defeat nor let things end this way. The attacking hybrid released a high pitched shrill and dug a claw deeper into the vest, tearing away a couple straps in the front securing the zipper.

"Listen to me" he groaned out in his struggles. "He's here! Robert is here!" His grip loosened around his rifle as it was ripped from his bloody knuckled grip. "They're going to kill him!" Another strap was ripped, completely exposing the vest. "You have to listen to me, Pet! They're going to kill Uncle Rob!" He took hold of one of her hands to stop her from unzipping the vest, which was a big mistake. She bit into the meaty part of his upper arm, causing him to scream in pain.

There was no fighting her off. She was definitely not like any other person he had hunted down and taken out. She growled and broke away from her biting his arm to bite at the area between his neck and shoulder. Derek was momentarily paralyzed by the pain and it took him a minute of coming to his senses before acting in self defense. He grabbed a handful of her hair with one hand while trying to reach for a knife tucked in his boot. Not happening.

The hybrid pulled away from the bite to grab the man by his hand wrapped in her hair and dug her claws into his wrist. She pinned it down next to him using her sickle clawed foot and reached for his other hand still trying to reach the knife. He had almost had it, too, had it not been for her grabbing his hand away. Another sharp jolt of pain took hold of him as she pressed a clawed fingered into his arm's bite mark.

Derek laid there, bleeding and at her mercy. His glossed over brown eyes met hers and he cried in plea, "Kill me if you will, but don't let them kill my uncle..." He panted and swallowed the knot in his throat, unable to fight off unconsciousness any longer.

The hybrid stared down at the passed out man beneath her and she snorted a bark. Should she leave him, he'd die from either the eventual blood loss if left untreated or from the pack of Compies she knew to still be nearby. He'd suffer the same fate Dieter did, except this time, the Compy's prey wouldn't be conscious when ripped apart. Decisions, decisions. What to do?


	81. Plan In Action

**81 - Plan in Action**

Like thunder rolling in across the island, a series of shot gun blasts tore through the tropical island air. A sober, though hung over, Muldoon brought his team to a halt. Amadi joined the team leader's side. "Gun fire..."

"And fairly close, too. Maybe a little over a mile and a half...two miles at most." His panicked gaze drifted downwards for a moment, fearful of what the shots were aimed at.

"Do you think they found her first?"

It took Muldoon a moment to recompose himself. "I wouldn't think Pet dumb enough to risk exposing herself in the open. The Meadow has been known to draw grazing herbivores like Trikes and Anks." Amadi raising a brow at the man was enough said in body language to express his utter confusion. "Triceratops and Ankylosaurus."

Though the African native really didn't fully know what the mentioned species were, still nodded his head in understanding. "Oh." He thought he had seen the first mentioned one in a cartoon, once, but couldn't say for certain. The names all sounded so weird to him. "Maybe he's out hunting a dinosaur, then..."

Muldoon shook his head. "No. Virgil wouldn't risk exposing his location. He's smarter than that. The only way he'd risk giving away his location was if he had eyes on target and knew the pros outweighed the cons."

"So he got her, then?" The glare Amadi received let him know to _never_ think out loud like that again.

"Stay low and follow me. Let's go see what this son of bitch is up to." Everyone kept their guns close to them, eyes looking around for any movement.

Twenty minutes later, tromping through the jungle's underbrush brought the men to their knees. Something large was close by and they quickly took cover on Muldoon's order to prepare for the worst. A herd of Triceratops plowed their way through the jungle, leaving everyone but Muldoon awestruck. He could careless about the spooked dinosaurs as he was more concerned with what spooked them.

One of the men kneeling next to Amadi pointed and stated in breathless amazement, "Its a dinosaur!"

"Yes, yes, that's all fine and dandy" Muldoon mumbled, "But stay focused!" They stayed, huddled down until the last of the stampeding dinosaurs had passed. "I suspect the gunfire caused them to tear off into a frenzied run. No surprise, really. If a herd is frightened enough, they'll keep running. Given the latest excitement InGen stirred up here not too long ago, the animals are probably still on edge."

Muldoon got to his feet and slowly crept forward. After several minutes of the team treading lightly, they were back to their previous pace in stride. Minutes later, they were on the edge where the jungle growth met vast meadowland. Something wasn't right. Despite the gunfire taking place as long ago as it had, the grassy stretch of land should at least have something roaming it. Nothing. Waves of tall grass swayed in the breeze, something that should otherwise be pleasant to watch but wasn't.

Alarm sunk in to Muldoon's very bones. "Its a trap" he whispered under his breath. "Son of a-" Gun fire ripped through the air, followed by one of Muldoon's team members falling to the ground, dead. Staring back at the startled men was a bullet shot between the dead man's eyes. "_Sniper!_" But it was too late.

Before the men could escape into the jungle for safe cover, two more men were taken out. Another shot rang out, sending Muldoon to the ground. A burning sensation tore through his leg, him grabbing for the source of pain. He rolled over onto his uninjured side and crawled behind a tree for protection. He knew it wouldn't provide complete protection for long, but it at least allowed him a moment to get his baring. His men.

He called out, "Amadi?" No answer. "Damn it, you bastard answer me" he growled. "_Amadi!_"

The beckoned man answered began a choking cough. "Here. I'm here."

Muldoon saw a blood hand be waved from behind a tree and sighed in relief that he was at least alive for the most part. He glanced down at his own injury to see extent of the damage. The bullet had gone completely through his leg and knew it had to have nicked the bone at the same time. Thinking quick, he unfastened his belt with shaking hands and cinched it down around his leg, above the gun shot. Bloody hell did it hurt! Next, he fought to get his button down shirt off and tied it around the penetrating shot itself to try and slow the bleeding by exerting pressure.

Foot steps were coming his way and he panicked, realizing he was without his gun. He had dropped it when he fell and knew he would only make himself an easy target should he try to retrieve it. Not like sitting there, unarmed, was much better.

Muldon tried to move, but couldn't. The foot steps stopped where he mentally imagined the gun being and heard a familiar voice. Virgil. "I know you're out there, Robert. No sense in running." Virgil growled a laugh in triumph. "Don't worry...I won't kill you." He stepped around the tree and into view, a twisted smile on his face. "Hello, buddy. Long time no see."

* * *

**I'm so giggly writing these past couple chapters...and am even more so thinking about how the next couple are going to go. Someone's not going to be happy when she finds out what's happened...**


	82. Pet's Plan

**82 - Pet's Plan**

Darkness filled Derek's vision, never mind his eyes being open. Night time. Crickets chirped in his ear, or were those some more of those damned dino chickens? And why the hell was his body feeling as though on fire? He recalled what had happened and cried out when trying to sit up. That bitch. She had damn near killed him! Here he was trying to help save her and- Uncle Rob. Derek had at least managed to roll over and discovered he was in a tent. Wait, a tent? Where the hell was he? He looked around for his rifle, but it wasn't there. He was without his tactical vest, too. Voices from outside could be heard and he tried his best to focus on them through the throbbing echoing in his ears.

"Hey boss" came one voice. "I think that dip shit is awake."

Virgil rose up from where he had been kneeling over a bloodied up Muldoon. He clenched a bloodied fist to match the other man's face, painted in blood from a broken nose, busted lip and gash running above an eyebrow. Virgil scowled. "I'm going to make that worthless sod pay." He stormed over to the tent and barged inside to find the younger man trying to get up. "Here, let me help you." Virgil reached down and grabbed the man off the cot and drug him outside by the collar of his blood stained shirt. He ruthlessly threw him to the ground, causing Derek to cry out in a spasm of pain. "I lost four good men because of you!"

"Then they weren't that good..." Derek hissed.

Virgil kicked the grounded man in the side. "When that bitch drug your ass back _my _camp, she got what she wanted. A God Damn distraction!" He kicked the man again. "The men who were patrolling the perimeter were killed plus another two within the camp itself. One was split open across the gut and the other three shot by what I could only guess was with your fucking gun!"

Derek was curled up in the fetal position, body wracked in unrelenting spasms of pain. "Well" he coughed out, mentally preparing himself for another good lashing. "You got what you wanted, at least. She came to the camp."

Virgil reared his foot back to this time, kick the offensive man in the face but was stopped by Muldoon. "Leave the boy alone, you fucking coward."

"And what is it you're going to do, hmm? You're tied up with a gun shot wound to the leg. You're not going anywhere. You think one of your men is going to save you? Look around, Robert. Three of your men are dead and one damn near." His cruel gaze settled on Amadi clutching to his own bullet wound at his side. "Eye for eye, don't you think? Your abomination kills some of my men and in return, I kill some of yours. She almost killed one of my team members and well..." Again his eyes settled on the bloodied African again. "Your girl stands no chance coming back, but she _will_ come back. I have you, here. The father she never had." He knelt back down before his weakening adversary to continue. "I'll make sure you stay alive long enough so you can watch me fillet her like a fish. That should even the kill count between us."

Derek coughed and wheezed out, "She's going to fuck you up, Reynolds. I guarantee it and I want to be there when she turns you into sliced meat."

* * *

Roughly two and a half miles she had ran, coming to a stop and leaning against a tree. The stench of rotting flesh was everywhere she went the further into the Rex's territory she ventured. This could only result in one of two scenarios, one of which she refused to even think about. She could hear the low growls of an adult Rex somewhere within the immediate area and followed the sounds to the source. There, lingering over a fresh kill was what she identified as the male Rex. She knew this because of the scars across its snout she gave it when it thought it'd try to make a meal of her, once.

Since then, it seemed the two stayed on negative terms. She snorted in taunt to the creature, it roaring at her. Rumbling footsteps came up to her through the underbrush and she jerked her head around to see the female emerge into full view. Pet cocked a smile and ran for the male, knowing just what to do rile it up into following her. She knew the female was sure to follow, too, and planned on exactly that.

* * *

Three AM was approaching and with it, Amadi's failing state. He was too weak to move, let alone keep pressure on his wound. One of the still well team members had to make sure the man stayed conscious. Striding close to the camp were two men with the remaining night vision goggles, guns armed and fingers itching to pull the trigger should they see any movement. A single camp fire illuminated the center of the camp, Virgil seated before it and holding his knife above the fire.

He smirked at the fading in and out Muldoon trying to stay awake as well and stood up. "Looks like you could use a little help." He approached the man and ripped off the shirt tied around the bleeding wound, pressing the heated knife against the entry point of the wound. Muldoon roared in pain, writhing against the smell and feel of his flesh burning. "Can't have you dying on me too soon."

A man in the distance, patrolling around the camp with night vision goggles tilted his head to the side in confusion. He had seen movement, but from what? Was it one of those Gah, uh...Galli...oh screw it. That one thing. "Hey boss" he stated out loud. "I got movement over here. At least, I think..."

Virgil hung his head in annoyance. "Either you think or you know."

The patrolling man readjusted the goggles on his head and squinted into them. Another flash of movement and this time, identifiable as a human's form. "Its the girl!"

The hunting party alpha got to his feet and grabbed his Spas 12 from around his back. "I knew she would come." He shot a sinister 'told you so' smile to Muldoon and scoffed a laugh.

THUD. What was that? Muldoon's weary blue eyes instantly fell on a tin cup partially full of water nearby and waited. THUD. Ripples formed in the water. Heavy foot steps were getting closer as a bout of panic came over the men's faces within the camp.

Virgil looked to Muldoon. "What the hell is that out there?"

"Wouldn't you like to know" he answered, it being his turn to sneer.


	83. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted

**83 - The Hunter Becomes the Hunted**

THUD. THUD. THUD. Roaring echoed the jungle followed by the foot step's owner busting into view. The patrolling man tried to take aim with unsteady hands and fire. He missed. How can someone miss a target that big? He more he shot at it, the more enraged it became. The Rex stretched its toothed jaws in a roar and closed them down on the man. In a powerful chomp, the man's screams were drowned out. Virgil's men ran to the towering form and began to fire at it, being mindful to keep their distance of it.

Muldoon growled to his men, "Don't move! Stay...still!"

Gun fire further agitated the animal and it roared out, coming towards the men. Another Rex charging into the scene from the side of the camp caused the men to scatter in panic as the two carnivores pursued them. Virgil raised his gun to shoot one of the dinosaurs with his Spas 12, but was knocked to the ground by Pet. Any action he was going to do next was halted when she dug a sickle claw into the meat of his thigh. Pet shrilled out and dug her claw deeper, tearing through the soft flesh of his leg.

Seeing how one of the Rexes was chasing the terrified men and the other busy finishing off one of the men, Muldoon now was as good a time to get away. Derek helped his uncle to his feet while two men assisted Amadi to his feet. Muldoon grumbled, "Get him out of here!"

Pet continued to fight Virgil, becoming momentarily dazed when he landed a punch across her face. Virgil reached for his knife and slashed at her upper arm, the hybrid shrieking and rolling off the man. She almost fell victim to another knife wound and dodged it, kicking the man in the face. The hybrid got to her feet and ran off, snorting and taunting the man to follow her. Pet watched him grab his rifle and get to his feet, her running and weaving between trees.

Virgil cursed under his breath and subconsciously grabbed at the bloodied gash on his thigh. He wouldn't stop though and continued to limp through the jungle underbrush, looking for Pet. The hunter had to have his prize and that exact moment, didn't care if she were alive or dead; he just wanted to get the job done he was hired to do. A flash of movement through the trees got his attention and he looked over, seeing a brief glimpse of the hybrid. He raised his rifle and took a shot, it missing as she wove between trees and disappearing yet again.

The weakening hunter leaned against a tree and yelled out, "I will find you and I will kill you!"

Pet made sure she didn't loose the man pursuing her, while also making sure she didn't get shot either. She paused and looked behind her to see the man limping back into view. She barked to get his attention and took off running again. A bullet ricocheted off a tree immediately to Pet's left and she lowered herself more, taking partial concealment within the undergrowth. But Virgil wasn't the only one watching her.

The hybrid ran up ahead a little bit and paused, waiting on Virgil to catch back up. Upon seeing her, a malicious smile stretched across his face and he limped closer to her. "Time to stop running, bitch, and accept the inevitable!" He was about to raise his rifle when he saw movement from the corner of his eye near a tree where was standing. Virgil huffed a disbelieving laugh and lowered his rifle. "Robert Muldoon..." He laughed to himself again and listened to the words being spoken to him by the other man.

"One thing to know when hunting Pet: you don't hunt her. She hunts you. And by the time you find her, you've fallen into her trap and are already dead." Muldoon had his rifle raised and sites aimed at Virgil's head. "I tried warning you, but you didn't listen."

Virgil kept his attention locked onto Pet, her animalistic stare empty of all emotion. "So what? Now you're going to shoot me in the back? Pity. I figured you a better man than that."

Muldoon cocked an arrogant smile. "That was before you beat the shit my nephew, killed some of my men, took me captive and tried to kill _my Pet_! As another hunter once told me, evolve your tactic or get the fuck out."

Virgil snidely stated, "Fuck you." With the squeeze of the trigger, the rifle fired and Virgil fell limply to the jungle floor.

Muldoon's blue eyes drifted up to see Pet, him slyly smiling. "Well, Pet...I evolved my tactic by taking a lesson from you."

The hybrid went rigid, her realizing what the man meant by that and glanced over her shoulder to see Derek come into view from behind a tree. Raised and aimed at the hybrid was a tranquilizer gun, the man shooting her in the shoulder. She barked a shrill and grabbed at the dart, yanking it from her shoulder and looking to Muldoon. Traces of sadness and regret rolled in her eyes as she, too, fell limply to the jungle floor.

* * *

**More to come after this! Next up are my 'Adaptations' segments.**


	84. Derek's Bunker

**84 - Derek's Bunker**

Sore. So sore. Pet went to move and found her limbs weighing more than she expected they would. Was she really that drained of energy? A shiver ran down her spine and realized it was the setting chill of wherever she was, dragging her down. Damn being partially cold blooded. At least she had been given a cot to lay on, had been cleaned up and given clean clothes to wear. She brought a hand to her face and wiped away the crusted sleep from out of her eyes. Groaning, she sat up and tried to study her surroundings in the almost non existent light to find herself in a mostly empty, concrete built room. In the corner of the side of the room the cot was located was a small bathroom barely big enough to allow one person inside it. Something rattling across the room got her attention and she looked over to see the shadow of a person standing against the far wall.

She hissed a snort and watched the shadow engulfed form leave the room through a door not far away. Heavy metal clinking let the hybrid know it wasn't just a door, but metal bars. Wait, was she in a jail? Maybe an animal kennel of a sort? Where in the blazes was she?

Derek locked the cell bar door behind him and fastened the keys to a belt loop of his pants. He proceeded down a short hallway and into a medium sized room. Along the right wall was a rectangular fold out table holding two small TV monitors and a computer. To the left of the room was a circular fold out table situated next to an old wooden gun shelf. It was no surprise to find the room's only other occupant, Muldoon, passed out at the table from drinking. On the wall across from the table was a small kitchenette offering a mini stove, sink, mini fridge and small pantry.

Derek sighed and went to the pantry door, opening it and then slamming it closed. The sound jolted the drunk man awake and he grumbled, sitting up. The young man frowned. "She's awake."

Minutes went by, Pet coming to realize she was shackled and chained up to mounts bolted into the wall directly behind the cot. She screeched in anger and fought against her bonds. What kind of medieval get up was this? Her fighting and tugging against the chains came to halt when hearing the cell door unlock and creak open. An explosion of light momentarily blinded the hybrid and she growled out, covering her face with her clawed hands.

Derek stood there, one finger on the light switch and his other hand wrapped around his favorite rifle. He scoffed. "This can go one of two ways, Pet..." Pet slid her hands from her face and forced her eyes to adjust to the light and shrilled out, lunging at the man. The chains reaching their max length pulled the hybrid back as the sudden stop forced her to the floor and onto her back. Derek heard the air be knocked from her lungs and winced. "Looks like you're opting for choice 2; the hard way. I can work with that." The hybrid slowly got back to her feet and continued to twist her wrists in the shackles, hoping to slide out of them. "Don't expect that to work. I made sure they were nice and secure. In all the years of bringing people here for...interrogations... no one has gotten free. Ever." Pet wasn't listening and barked out in frustration. "And don't think you can break the chains, pick open the locks or break the wall mount." He laughed to himself. "You wouldn't believe the favors I had to ask and connections to pull to make that little set up happen. Oh, and just to let you know...no matter how much noise you make and how loud you make it, no one is going to hear you. This used to be a U.S. military training bunker. The walls are two foot thick concrete and the entire place is mostly underground. So yeah, yell, scream, bark, shriek, shrill, whatever the hell it is you do...do it. No one outside this bunker is going to hear you."

That really set off the hybrid as she struggled more against her restraints. She loudly shrilled, the sound almost deafening in the concrete confines. Derek was starting to regret telling her to be as loud as possible. He stood there, barely 2 foot shy from where she desperately fought without success to reach him.

Muldoon entered the room, limping and using a cane to assist him in support. "How long has she been awake?"

"Close to 10 minutes."

Muldoon and Pet locked gazes, him seeing something animalistic pass within her eyes. She growled and tried to lunge at the man, barking in growls. "Just as I suspected; she's not happy. Oh well. Let's just leave her here until she's worn herself out. Maybe then she'll actually listen."

The hybrid snorted when watching the two men leave her to herself, locking the door behind them. Again, she started to fight against her bonds as she growled and shrilled in unfathomable anger. The two people went back into the surveillance room, Muldoon limping over to the chair set in front of the rectangular table. He watched the hybrid, from one of the surveillance screens, battle her bonds.

The ex-game warden frowned in sadness at the girl's self inflicted injuries from her pulling and twisting at the restraints. "I wish it didn't have to be like this, Pet." He checked his wrist watch to see it was almost 2 in the afternoon.

By eight-o-clock that night, the once boisterous raptor like sounds had been reduced in octave to mere hoarse rasps. The hybrid's tantrum continued to range from violent outbursts to pitiful sobs. She laid on the cold concrete floor, now, shy of the bathroom door and wheezed. She was tired, cold and hungry. She had been thirsty, but thanks to her bonds being just long enough, she was able to drink from the bathroom sink. The water wasn't the best and smelled something akin to rotten eggs. The taste was just as bad, which deterred her from wanting to drink more.

The cell bar like door creaked open yet again, revealing her two captors. Derek, armed and hiding behind his rifle and Muldoon leaning against his cane. She hoarsely barked at the two and growled, glossy raptor eyes staring at the two in debate. The oldest of the two men spoke. "Now that you've calmed down, perhaps you'll listen." Pet hissed a growl. "At the moment, you seem to be a bit unstable. I figured you would be, given what Roland told me post his little Isla Sorna adventure, but I didn't imagine it'd be this bad. You're acting like a damn rabid animal!"

Pet leapt to her feet and sprang for the man, her chains stopping her inches from the man's position. Derek had his rifle raised to the hybrid, him glaring at her from the other end of the stock.

Muldoon calmly requested, "Lower your weapon, Derek."

"But Uncle Rob, she'll-"

"Lower your weapon." The icy chill of his voice tone as well as in his gaze made the younger obey, Muldoon looking back at the hybrid. "If we show her we mean no harm then it will make her readjusting around people that much easier."

He was weak, this she could tell. She could also tell he was medicated, probably for the pain, judging by the dilation of his pupils. She sniffed the air and smelled faint traces of alcohol on his breath, which she knew was from earlier in the day.

Derek frowned. "I'm not so sure of her."

Muldoon studied the hybrid as well as he knew what she was doing. "Don't be afraid of her. She can smell it."

The young man kept trying to tell himself that there was nothing to be afraid of considering she was chain but he couldn't help it; not the way she sounded and looked at him. "Right."

The older man felt a chill run down his back as her blood hungry gaze looked into his saddened gaze. "The longer you keep this up, Pet, the longer you'll remain chained up. When you start acting like a civil person, again, the chains will come off." He tilted his head at her and feebly turned, leaving the room. Derek back stepped towards the cell door until within arm's reach of it. He flicked off the light and locked the door behind him.


	85. A Friend In Need

**85 - A Friend In Need**

His sad blue eyes never blinked from the video playing out on the 3 screens, Muldoon pouring himself another straight up drink of whiskey. The liquor had lost its chill a long time ago, but he didn't care. Seated next to him was Derek, the younger man frowning at his uncle's regression back into alcoholism.

He sighed and shook his head, speaking up. "I don't get it. I don't."

The drunk game warden took a swig of his drink, responding. "Don't get what?"

"_You!_" Muldoon sluggishly met his nephew's irritated gaze. "Look at you! Look at what you've let yourself become! You talk about Pet letting herself go. At least she has a legitimate reason."

The older man grumbled and sat up. "Don't start this shit with me, Derek, you have no idea-" He burped uncomfortably and grabbed at his stomach, not liking how it was churning.

"For the past week and a half, I've been watching you sit here and mope about the past and how you wished you could've changed things. Things happened the way they did...I'm sorry. But she's alive, now, and _right there!_" He shook his head, seeing how pale his uncle was and watched him stumble out of the surveillance room and disappear around the corner in the direction of the bathroom down the hall.

Derek clenched his jaw in anger and sadness when he heard his uncle become ill and focused his attention back on the screens. He could see the hybrid sitting on the bed with her head on her knees, folded to her chest. Solemnly, the young man slid out of his chair and left the room, leaving his rifle leaning against the table. He unclipped the keys from his belt loop and unlocked the door leading to the concrete room Pet was kept in, slowly opening it.

Raptor eyes locked on to the man entering the room, the hybrid snorting. Something was different about him, though, and could see it in his glazing eyes. She noticed he wasn't carrying his rifle, too, which he always had when around her. Pet knew approximately how close a person had to be for her to reach them when chained and anxiously waited for the man to be in range. However, her mindset changed when she saw Derek steadily stride towards her, appearing as though he didn't care if she attacked him or not.

Pet slimmed her watch down on the man, now barely a foot from where she sat, and tilted her head to the side. He drew in a breath, speaking. "I know you don't like me and probably hate me. That's fine. I don't care. I don't care if you attack me or if you even run away when I release you." The hybrid readjusted how she was sitting in the cot, her now slowly crawling to the edge of it. "I do, however, care about my uncle. I was hoping once you were recovered off the island and brought to safety that he would pull himself together and stop burying himself inside a bottle. But he hasn't. More nights than not, he's drinking himself sick or to a stupor." Pet snorted and flexed her prominent toes as her sickle claws dug into the sheets. She was extremely tempted to attack the man, but refrained when she saw his glazing eyes start to pool tears. "He's like a father to me, Pet. I know you know how it's like growing up, feeling abandoned and unloved by the man who helped give you life. My father turned his back on my mother and I when I was 6. Robert was there, when he wasn't working, helping my mom the best he could until he ended up with his own issues and his wife leaving him. I saw him fall apart, after that, putting a bottle to his head every night and pulling the trigger." Derek knelt down so he was now eye level with the hybrid and continued. "He had given up. He didn't care anymore. Then here you came and almost overnight, he was a completely different person. He loves you, Pet. You're the closest thing he's ever had to having his own kid. I don't know what it is about you, but somehow, you bring to life the most dead of emotions, inside a person. From what I've heard and read about you from people, you're a great person. I think otherwise." Pet screeched a bark at the man and tore at the bed sheets with her sickle claws. "Prove me wrong. Pick yourself up and be the person Robert and Hammond seem to believe you are. I beg you, Pet. If not for yourself, then for my uncle before he seriously hurts himself. Please."

The hybrid relaxed her tense poise and growled a bark. Slowly, Derek rolled the keys around in his hand and with unblinking eyes, intently watched the hybrid. She analyzed the man and was surprised to find him not afraid, as he usually was when around her. Pet stayed where she knelt and held out her wrists, Derek unlocking the shackles. To the floor they fell, clattering upon impact as Pet stood up, staring down at the man. With a clawed hand, she gently caressed his cheek and walked away, leaving the room.

He followed her, keeping a respective distance between them, telling her, "Last I knew, he was in the bathroom." Pet quietly met his gaze and raised a brow in question. "Oh, its the, uh, second door on the right."

Having her answer, the hybrid strode down the hallway and paused in front of the door. She was wrong about herself. She had convinced herself she felt nothing for no one, but when she saw Muldoon propped against the toilet, bits of sick on his clothes, her heart shattered in her chest. Her jaw clenched in anger as her pressed lips trembled on the verge of crying. Ignoring the physical pain from, she clenched her fists where her claws dug into her palms, Derek watching nearby.

She snorted. "Get a mop and bleach." Derek, startled at hearing her speak for the first time since arriving to the bunker, nodded his head and sprinted down the hallway.

Taking caution where she stepped, the hybrid entered the bathroom and yanked a hand towel off a stack by the sink and got it wet. She wrung out the extra water and went to the toilet, flushing it. The man jerked awake, groggily looking around, confused. She then knelt down by the man, deeply frowning. Tenderly, she wiped at the man's mouth, washing off the residual sick and drool, meeting his glossy eyed gaze.

He mumbled, "What...What the..." His words trailed off as she got up, washing out the cloth in the sink.

She rejoined him and wiped off his sweat drenched face, lost on what to say to the overly intoxicated man. "You look and smell like shit." Pet began unbuttoning his dirty shirt and shook her head. "What have you done to yourself, Robert?" She tugged off his shirt and tossed it aside. "You used to be better than this."

He swayed where he sat, unaware of what was going on or who it was helping him and continued to mumble incomprehensible words under his breath. Satisfied he was as washed off as he was going to get, Pet grabbed by one of his arms and hoisted him up to his feet. Derek rushed to help her as the two guided the drunk man to his bed, laying him down.

He must've been starting to sober up, some, as he rubbed his eyes with one of his hands and struggled to sit up. He burped and swallowed, looking up at Derek and then to Pet. His glossy blue eyes squinted in an effort to focus in on the hybrid, him muttering, "Pet?"

She snorted and balled up a fist, punching the man in the face. She watched him fall limply onto the bed, now unconscious, and growled. The hybrid locked gazes with the speechless man next to her, speaking. "Might want to keep a trashcan next to the bed incase he wakes up in the middle of the night, sick."

Derek retrieved a trashcan he had beside his bed and set it next to his uncle's. "Sad thing, is, it's 3 o clock in the afternoon."

Pet scoffed. "I'm going to go take a shower" and went back to the confinement cell, disappearing behind the bathroom door.


	86. Coming To Terms

**86 - Coming To Terms**

The next morning came way too early for Muldoon as he sat up, groaning against a throbbing headache. Where were his clothes? He at least slept with a T shirt and boxers on, so why was he just wearing boxers? And why did his jaw hurt? "Derek!" The addressed, younger man hung his head low from where he sat in the surveillance room and sighed. "DEREK!"

"Yeah, okay, I'm coming, I'm coming." He grumbled and stood up.

Pet, lounged back in a chair and reading a book with feet propped up on the table, cut in. "That's what she said."

He pointed at her. "I can still toss your ass back in your hole, y'know." She snorted and watched him proceed down the hallway.

Derek entered the bunk room and shoved his hands in his front pockets, staring blankly at the other man. "What?"

Muldoon, resting his head in his hands, questioned. "How bad did I get last night?"

"You mean yesterday afternoon?" He paused, seeing his uncle irritated with himself. "Pretty bad. Made quiet the mess of the bathroom, in the process."

"Damn."

"Had to have your ass washed off and drug to bed." Derek leaned against the door frame, his expression full of disappointment. 

"Shit..." The older man shoved himself off his bed and went to the wall locker nearby, getting a clean change of clothes and sliding on a pair of cargo pants. "Guess I had more than I should have." He leaned into his arms he had propped against one of the shelves, shaking his head to himself. "You should have left my ass where I was."

"I would have..." He debated on whether or not to tell the other about what really happened, but figured if he knew, he might decide to stop drinking. "But it was Pet who cleaned you up and scooped your sorry ass off the floor."

Muldoon's alarmed gaze snapped over to his nephew. "What?"

"Yep. So if you're going to apologize or thank me, save it for her."

The game warden neared his nephew. "Why the hell did you let her out?"

Derek yelled back, defensively. "To help you!"

"I don't need anyone's help!"

"Didn't seem that way, yesterday, while leaning against a toilet and covered in your vomit. Yeah, good going, Uncle Rob. You can take care of yourself!"

Muldoon was about to strike at the younger man when a strong force stuck him in his chest and knocked him to the floor. Pet pinned the man down and shrilled, her raptor eyes inches from his wide blue ones. "Damn it, you crazy ass-" He fought to get up, but found himself unable to against the hybrid positioned above him. "_Get the fuck off me!_" Pet barked a snort and flexed her sickle claws against his shins.

For the first time, he was pinned by the hybrid and unable to move. Had he really let himself get that bad off that he had become physically weak? Even years after being handicapped following his being attacked by the raptor at Jurassic Park, he had no issue defeating the hybrid in a challenge. And yet, here he was, weak and unable to do anything in his defense.

Pet could sense his anguish and slowly, got off him, standing up. She stared down at him and stated, "This isn't the game warden and hunter I spent all of my life looking up to as a role model." She snorted. "If you believe I have it in me to return to humanity, then I believe you can clean yourself up and be the hunter I know you can be. Its just a matter of opening or closing the door to the opportunity." She turned and walked away, calling back, "I'll be in my hole, waiting for the challenge, in the meantime."


	87. Challenge Accepted

**87 - Challenge Accepted**

Muldoon continued to lay in the floor for a moment, watching the room spin, and rolled the hybrid's words over in his head. Derek scoffed at the man and walked away to go back to the surveillance room. He was surprised, however, when he saw the hybrid bypass the room and go straight for the confinement cell, leaving the door partially open.

He whispered to himself, "It's just matter of opening or closing the door to the opportunity." A slight smile played at his tense mouth. "Literally, huh?" Behind him, the bunk room door slammed shut, startling the younger man. "In the mean time, its just a question of which door."

Knowing there was nothing he could do, Derek went back to the surveillance room and heavily sat down in the chair he had previously been occupying and stared at the ceiling. In the background, muffled behind the closed door, he could hear his uncle sob and it tore him apart. What was going through his mind to completely destroy the barrier he had built around himself throughout the years?

Inside the bunk room, Muldoon paced the floor and rubbed his hands over his tear streaked face. He was pathetic and sick of himself and what he had let himself become. Angrily, he punched the thin, metal wall locker and leaned there a minute, burying his face into his arm. He needed to get away from the mental pain and jerked the door of the locker open, grabbing the whiskey bottle and a shot glass off the top shelf. Too busy thinking about himself, he heavily sat down on his bed and began pouring himself a drink. He was about to take a heavy drink of it when he stopped himself, remembering everything Derek and Pet had said. No. He wouldn't let himself become worse. The hunter had become the prey long enough and it was time he put a stop to it.

He held up the glass and examined the contents, muttering, "Not today, you wont" and threw it to the floor. Shards of glass sparkled in the pool of wasted whiskey as Muldoon got up, going back to the locker.

Derek heard the sound of breaking glass and sat up, worried and confused. Apparently Pet heard it too for she looked up from having her head resting on her knees and to the door. Time seemed to slow as she anxiously waited to see if the older man would come into the room, the air hauntingly quiet. She softly snorted in admitting to herself she was expecting too much and set her head back down.

Down the hallway, the bathroom door slammed shut, Derek poking his head out of the surveillance room to see what was going on. The bunk room door was open as the sound of running shower water from within bathroom got his attention. Derek cautiously went to the bunk room, half expecting to be attacked along the way, and paused in the door. Normally, he would be upset at seeing good alcohol go to waste, but this time, he wasn't. When he turned to leave, he noticed the fist sized dent in the locker door, not surprised and scoffed. He was, however, surprised when he noticed something missing from the top of the locker. His brown eyes went to where he had gotten used to seeing a beige safari hat sit, untouched, for the past couple weeks and slimmed his gaze down.

Derek looked back at the bathroom door and drove his hands into his pockets. "What are you up to, now?" Eager to find out, he made his way to the confinement room to relay the news to Pet. He found her just as he had last seen her via surveillance video and spoke. "Hey, uh..."

She whimpered a bark and fell over, plopping down onto the bed and still coiled up. "What?"

He studied the hybrid, slightly worried. "You okay?"

"I haven't eaten since yesterday when you threw that still partially frozen steak at me."

The man blushed, him remembering now. He wasn't in the best of moods then and fed up with everything. "Oh, yeah...sorry about that, by the way." Pet snorted a bark and stretched out, burying her face in her pillow.

"What did you want, anyway?"

"Oh right I was-" He stopped in mid sentence when he heard the bathroom door open and turned his attention towards the confinement cell door.

The echoing of heavy foots steps sounded down the hallway, Pet peering up from the pillow to watch the door. Muldoon paused just shy of the door and repeated under a barely audible whisper, "Its just a matter of opening or closing the door." He pushed open the door and entered the room, his attention falling on his nephew. Derek's brow arched and eyes widened as he smiled, seeing his uncle wearing his traditional safari look he had pretty much trademarked. The game warden's eyes fell on Pet, who slowly sat up, an uncertain smile on her face. Muldoon spoke. "Alright then..." and slid his beige hat on, continuing. "Challenge excepted."


	88. Pet's Special Visitor

**88 - Pet's Special Visitor**

A steak had never looked so good before. Pet sat at the circular table and could feel her mouth watering over the sight of a mostly raw New York strip laid out on a plate in front of her. To hell with using silverware. She picked up the piece of meat, perfectly browned on the outside, and bit into it. Oh how it tasted so good! Hunger had been paining her since yesterday and now since allowed out of that damn confinement room, was catching up on much needed everything. Rest, eating, drinking glasses of water in a steady flow as well as occupying the bathroom for almost an hour to soak in a hot tub. That was something she had been missing; soaking in a tub.

Derek would occasionally come banging on the door, demanding she get out but she'd refuse. He was a guy and could go piss outside. At one point, she heard a gun be cocked with the man insisting he'd shoot out the locks on the door and drag her out himself if need be. Of course, that was before Muldoon came back with his own threats to his nephew.

Post bath felt almost as good as the actual bath its self. Pet hadn't felt her hair and body this clean in an embarrassingly long time. About the only thing she was primarily concerned with keeping clean was her teeth. She _loathed_ the feeling of dirty teeth. When on the island, she could never really be and stay clean, seeing how she spent more time caked in mud to both provide camouflage and disguise her scent to other animals she was hunting or hunting parties out to hunt her.

After the steak was finished off, she was lounged out in one of the fold out chairs situated around the table and sighed in content. Across the table was Derek, busying himself with a one of many crossword puzzles. He took a moment to look up at the hybrid wearing a smug grin. "Feel better?"

She nodded and rubbed her belly. "Give me a little while and I'll make another steak for an afternoon snack."

The man arched a brow. "You've already had 2 so far today. How many more are you going to eat?"

"I have a big appetite, okay?" Derek shook his head. "I'm curious..."

"Hmm" he hummed out behind the top of his pen stuffed in his mouth.

"What's the plan from here?" The hybrid drummed her clawed fingers against the smooth top of the table. "Am I to be kept inside this shit hole for the rest of my remaining life or will I be allowed outside at one point?"

"Eh." Derek tossed his pen to the side and leaned back in his own chair. "Hammond actually had a plan...a plan everyone agrees you might like." A sly smile upturned his features.

Pet slimmed her blue green eyes down on the man. "Do tell."

Outside, a helicopter appeared over the tree tops and came in for a landing in a grassy clearing shy of the bunker. Pet heard the muffled sounds of the rotor from within the concrete structure and looked to Derek in alarm. The man didn't seem at all bothered and looked at his watch, sitting up. "A little early, but not by too much." He stood up, stretching. "I should go wake up Uncle Rob. He said he wanted to be woken up from his nap should Hammond show up early."

"Wait, _what?!_"

An answer didn't come to the hybrid's hysterical questioning as she watched the bounty hunter leave the room. She snorted in a fit of annoyance and leapt to her feet to follow. No sooner had she stepped out of the room than the heavy steel door leading into the bunker swing open. Light flooded into the hallway only to be replaced by the stocky form of a very fatigued John Hammond.

In his current state of health, he shouldn't have been making the trip anyway, but wasn't going to let anything stop him from coming to the remote location nestled in the foothills of the California mountains. Not since getting the phone call from Robert letting him know Pet was allowed to roam about the bunker unrestrained. It was a flash of hope he prayed was a sign for better times.

His blue eyes framed behind his glasses instantly fell on the hybrid upon entering the bunker and went motionless. This was the first time he'd seen her alive and in the flesh since Isla Nublar. He opened his mouth to speak, but all his mouth could do was tremble in threatening tears.

A sudden spurt of aggression surged through the hybrid and she snorted in reflection of. She poised herself to lunge at the man, every muscle in her body tense with the years of repressed resentment she had held since being left. Pet flexed her toe's signature sickle claws into the concrete floor, but once sensing the wave of strong emotion stemming from the man she began to stand down. The force of the much older man's sadness and regret slammed hard onto the hybrid as she had felt nothing so strong in emotion such as this before.

Hammond breathlessly stated, "Pet" and took a step closer to the woman.

Behind him, the bunker door slammed shut as it echoed the hauntingly quiet hallway. Standing down the hallway a bit were Derek and Muldoon, both people watching in a mix of dread and suspense. A part of Muldoon expected the hybrid to strike out at the man, but when seeing her raptor eyes melt into blue green, knew other wise.

Pet released a breath she had subconsciously been holding, whispering "John" in the process.


	89. Hammond's Good News

**89 - Hammond's Good News**

Pet stared at Hammond in complete disbelief. Had she just heard him right. "The Badlands...Montana..." Hammond excitedly nodded. "That's your plan on where to hide me?"

Derek stared at the hybrid in bewilderment. Was she really not getting it? "Pet" he stated, "Think about it. What's the Badlands known for?" She cut her eyes down on the man. "Fossils, Pet. _Fossils!_ Paleontologists! Alan Grant?"

The woman blinked in realization and suddenly went rigid, eyes wide in a lapse of panic. Muldoon opening and closing the kitchenette's mini fridge snapped her back to reality, especially when seeing a Crown Royal bottle in his hand. She snorted and got up, going over to the man pouring him a shot. He didn't bother giving her a passing glance when putting the bottle back in the mini fridge and neither did she when pouring the shot down the sink's drain.

She, instead, remained attentive on Hammond. A fleeting look of panic swept over him when seeing the ex game warden become livid at the hybrid. Muldoon pointed a finger at the hybrid, but his words were cut off by her snarling at him. "You asked me to help you get your shit together. Fine. It starts with getting rid of the trash that you've collected!"

Derek was staring at the woman in the same panic Hammond had. "Wha...but...That was a perfectly good shot!"

Pet's eyes shifted from blue green to a raptors in their sockets when glaring down on the man roughly a few years older than her. "This is a group support effort. We're in this together."

"But, but, bu-" The hybrid's snorting shut him up mid word. "This sucks."

The hybrid gave Muldoon another glare before striding back to her seat next to Hammond to resume their conversation. "So" she huffed. "You're sending me to Montana...To work with Alan Grant...As in _the Dr. Alan Grant_..." Hammond looked to Muldoon biting a fist in anger and back to Pet. "Um, John..."

Hammond held up a hand not resting on his white, fossilized amber topped cane and chuckled. "It's already been arranged and I must say, Dr. Grant is excited to be receiving a raptor specialist to assist him with his current excavation!" Pet opened her mouth and closed it repeatedly for several moments, lost in thought. She blinked at Hammond before finally driving her clawed hands between her knees, deciding it best to just give up and accept it. "I told him you would be arriving in a couple weeks."

The hybrid lowered her brow down on the man. "Why a couple weeks?"

Hammond was about to answer when he came to think about it; he didn't know how to answer. Derek answered instead. "You're not ready to be integrated into society, yet. No offense, but you still have a wild hair up your ass that needs removed." Pet hissed a shriek in offense. "And that...your noises you do. You can't do that around other people. If you start making those noises, its going to draw attention to yourself and people are going to start noticing more unique things about you. You need to learn self control."

Muldoon shook his head in his leaning over the kitchen cabinet. "She's never going to have complete control over herself. One will always take control of the other in certain situations." He reached for the mini fridge but stopped, clenching his fist in an attempt to resist temptation.

Pet frowned. "I've never had to refrain from making noises before. Not when I was in Kenya and not at Jurassic Park."

Hammond spoke up in a comforting voice. "The people around you in Kenya knew what you were as were those at the park. You weren't really expected to restrain yourself."

"Not to mention she knew better, for the most part" Muldoon continued, standing up and turning to face the group.

Derek crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. "Question is, how do we stop what's basically a part of her?"

Pet met her guardian's worried gaze and frowned in sympathy. "I have an idea..." All eyes turned to the hybrid. "Every time I make a bark or a screech...whatever...you," she pointed to Muldoon with a clawed finger, "Get to take a shot."

The man liked the sound of that. Knowing the hybrid, she'd be making sounds constantly which meant he'd get to drink quiet frequently. "Deal" he stated. Pet nodded and got up, going over to him.

They shook on it, Derek wincing. "Something tells me this is going to be rough." He turned his gaze over to Hammond. "Take me with you when you leave, here?"


	90. Hell of a Deal

**90 - Hell of a Deal**

Hammond left the bunker, pleased with himself and overjoyed at the hybrid being as well as she was. At least she wasn't horribly maimed, disfigured and most of all, dead. The helicopter lifted off with the man inside, leaving the three people to themselves. Pet and Muldoon glared at the other in anticipation of their deal.

Over the course of several days, she'd bark or snort and he'd take a shot. It peeved her to see this, as he made no effort to hide it, but it was part of the deal. She continued to see it as an incentive to bite back her natural urge to bark, shrill, shriek, snort, hiss and any other raptor like noise she was prone to making. On a few occasions, she had caught herself about to make a noise and stopped herself. She's cheer triumphantly, only to falter when Derek would deliberately do something to distract her and set her off.

One such occasion was smacking her across the backside. The young man quickly learned that was a no, no between both deal-bound people as his uncle decked him across the jaw and Pet claw at his back. Though her swiping at him wasn't enough to do extensive physical injury, it did break a little bit of the skin to which he in admittedly liked.

Day 3. Snort. "Damn it!" Pet grumbled and buried her face in her hand, refusing to watch her very good friend shoot himself in the mouth with a fix of whiskey.

Day 4. Bark. "Son of a-" Another shot taken to join the other 3 the man had taken earlier that day.

Day 6. Sno- Wait...Muldoon glared at the hybrid from across the table. "Ha" she blurted, slamming a clawed hand down on the table. "Didn't make a complete snort!"

Derek 'fumbled' in his reaching for an old newspaper, spilling her drink in her lap. "Oops. My bad" he snickered.

Pet leapt to her feet, hissing a bark. "Damn it you little shit!" She took a clawed swing at the bounty hunter, but he was already running towards the door with her following after him, shrilling.

Muldoon shrugged. "Guess that's two shots then" and got up, going to the mini fridge.

Day 9. Pet was in the bathroom and opened the door to come out, jumping in being startled when Derek leapt out at her. She shrieked, but like a girl and not anything like a raptor. Muldoon poked his head into the hallway from around the bunk room's doorway. "What was that?"

Derek busted out laughing. "Pet screamed like a girl!" His laughing started to slow when seeing the hybrid glare down at him, upper lip lightly curling. "Oh shit." He took off running down the hall and had almost made it to the bunker's main door before getting pounced on and sent to the floor.

Day 12 and Pet was sound asleep when the sounds of gun fire woke her. She instantly started looking around the bunk room to find a couple of the two men's rifle cases missing. She got up and ran outside to see uncle and nephew target practicing, roughly 20 feet away, with their collection of soda cans they had accumulated since residing in the bunker. She sighed in relief until she saw a bottle of something sitting on a patio table between them. Resting next to the bottle of scotch were two shot glasses. She stood, arms crossed over her chest when watching for confirmation on what she assumed.

Muldoon took aim with his Winchester lever action rifle and shot at a can sitting roughly 75 yards downrange on a tree stump. He nodded to himself and lowered the rifle to pour himself a drink. The hybrid lightly growled to herself. She turned and went back inside, going straight to the bunk room to retrieve and loud up one of the available guns. She really wasn't going for damage, but more for something to prove her point. Why the hell Muldoon still toted around her first gun was beyond her and she opened the case of her .22 long rifle. She hadn't shot that thing since she was 8. The hybrid then went to the wall locker the ammo was kept in and loaded a single round into the rifle. Back outside she went.

Still standing where she had left them were the two men, Derek taking aim with the Winchester as Muldoon stood with the half full liquor bottle in hand. Oh hell no. The hybrid took aim at the bottle and fired, the glass shattering on the bullet's impact. Both men yelped in fright of the suddenness and instantly looked to the woman standing behind them. Pet barked a shrill at the pissed off Muldoon staring at her wide eyed and jaw dropped.

Day 14. Hammond was due to arrive in a couple hours. Muldoon and Pet continued to stare at the other, both people not having a said a word to the other since she shot the scotch bottle. Derek felt awkward and cleared his throat to try and break the tension between the two. "So uh, how bout that-"

Pet growled, "Shut up, Derek" and continued to glare at her disgruntled good friend.


	91. Next Stop Montana

**91 - Next Stop, Montana**

Two and a half hours later, the helicopter landed and much to the surprise of the three bunker mates, was without Hammond. Pet tilted her head to the side as Derek scratched his head. "Hey, uh...Where's the old man?"

The three gathered their belongings and loaded up into the white helicopter. They each took a seat, Pet sliding all the way to the other side with Muldoon sitting next to her and Derek across from them. The pilot turned around to tell his passengers, "Mr. Hammond sends his apologies for not being able to make it due to his current bad health."

Derek nodded, "Ah," not immediately noticing the flicker of worry in the hybrid's eyes.

Muldoon frowned as he already had a feeling this would happen. He could see it in the much older man's face that something wasn't right and it concerned him them. Gradually the helicopter lifted into the sky and away from the bunker beneath them. Pet could honestly say she wasn't going to miss the place as it felt more like a dungeon cell than anything. Four weeks she had spent, there. Four exasperating weeks.

A little over an hour later, the group had arrived to San Francisco, California. Pet's face was glued to the window as she watched the ground and its buildings become larger in their descent. Once the helicopter touched down did the hybrid start to panic. She looked down at her feet and up to Muldoon horrified. They'd see her feet and would surely make mention if not to them then someone else about it.

Derek reached into his backpack and tossed her a pair of folded up socks. "They're my last clean pair" he stated.

Hastily, she put them on. They weren't enough to hide the shape of her feet nor disguise her sickle claw entirely. Derek grumbled a sigh. A couple minutes later, the helicopter's door was opened by a crew chief and motioning to the passengers they could get out. Staying low to stay clear of the still spinning prop, the group did so. Despite Derek's shoes being tied as tightly around Pet's feet as possible, they still slid around and added a clomping affect to her steps.

The crew chief looked down at Derek's feet to see just socks, the bounty hunter shrugging. "I just absolutely hate traveling with shoes on."

The crew chief accepted the answer, as he had heard more stranger things, and motioned the three new comers to follow him. After the rotor started to power down did he speak. "Mr. Hammond sends his regards and best wishes." He lead them to a brand new red, four door Jeep Wrangler and left to aide the other crew chief with the post flight on the helicopter.

Pet looked at the new vehicle with a flabbergasted expression. "Oh wow."

She got into the driver's seat and noticed an envelope with the name Veronica Renee written across the front of it. The young woman took the envelope and was about to open it, when Muldoon scowled at her. "Move your ass, Pet. No way am I letting you drive." She frowned and did as told, still holding onto the note and crawling into the passenger seat. The two men put their belongings in the back of the Jeep and got in, Muldoon noticing a several page letter in the hybrid's hands. "Who's that from?"

Pet bit her lips together before answering. "Its from Hammond."

Derek sat in the backseat and leaned forward so he was now propped against the front seat's center console. "What's it say?"

Pet went back to the beginning of the letter and began to read out loud for all to hear. In the meantime, Muldoon put the Jeep into gear and started to drive off.

"My dearest Veronica Renee, a.k.a Pet.

I can not begin to explain my deepest regrets for not being able to make it there today as my bad health got the best of me. I hope you will accept my gift as repayment. For what its worth, seeing you alive and well those days ago was the best thing that's happened to me in a very, very long time.

"These past few years have been rough on this old man and I had all but given up hope of you being alive. When I was informed by Mr. Mitchell of your unfortunate demise, I knew better than to believe him. As the years went on, however, I found myself believing his story. Then came Ian Malcolm in his returning from Isla Sorna to tell me otherwise. You were alive and offered proof. I regretted not being there for you in the past when you needed me the most and knew this was my opportunity to at least right one of many wrongs I had done. I sent a team to come find you.

"I had been keeping tabs on a certain young man, Derek Muldoon, and knew he'd do what was needed to get things going. His becoming hired by InGen to assist in tracking you down was an unforeseen circumstance that just so happened to work out for the better. Funny how things work. As soon as I was told you had been recovered from the island, I wanted to see you then. My bad health had other plans, however, and I was forced to wait. When I heard you were adjusting to being away from the wilds of Isla Sorna, I couldn't wait any longer.

"I wanted to bring you back with me, then, but couldn't. InGen has been steadily coming by my house in search of you. From what I understand, they've been doing the same to Dr. Malcolm and Dr. Grant as well. Any one they would suspect you of taking refuge with, they have been interrogating. Now that the smoke has settled, so to say, things look to be in the clear. As I stated, arrangements have been made to stay with Dr. Grant at his excavation. Along with this letter is a map and everything you need to know to assist you in your journey. I do hope all goes well for you, my dearest Pet. Though I haven't shown it, I have always seen you as my daughter. Please forgive me for my misdeeds.

"Best of luck and with my love,

John Hammond

P.S. The Jeep is technically yours."

Pet sniffed back a sob that had crept up on her during her reading the letter and flipped through the letter pages to find the printed up map of Montana. Another page showed an enlarged section of Montana with a circle around a dot near a lake labeled Ft. Peck Lake. Next to it were a series of co-ordinates.

Derek leaned in closer over the hybrid's shoulder to look at the region. "Great. So the middle of no where, it seems." He flopped back down into the back seat. "Looks like its going to be a hell of a drive." He sighed. "Next stop, Montana."


	92. Each To Their Own

**92 - Each To Their Own**

After 3 days of being mostly confined to a vehicle, minus the nights of being in a motel, Pet was ready to be at the excavation site. She stretched in the front passenger seat of the Jeep and grumbled, digging her dulled claws into the back of her seat's headrest. Sitting behind her was Derek, his eyes shifting up from his reading a magazine and to the clawed hands just a couple feet from his face. Though he still considered her dangerous, he felt somewhat better around her at the moment seeing how her claws were filed down. He checked his watch and continued to read his magazine, wondering what he'd do next to kill time.

The hybrid sighed and looked over to Muldoon, driving, and questioned. "Can I drive?"

"Are you asking _if_ you can drive or asking if I will _let_ you drive?" He never took his eyes off the road while responding.

"I'm saying pull over and let me drive." She shifted in the seat to better stare at the man with raptor eyes slimmed down on him. "So pull over." Derek glanced up and shifted his watch from the hybrid and over to his uncle, curious to know where this would go. He had a feeling, but still found it entertaining to watch unfold. Muldoon, himself, readjusted in his seat as though both showing and telling the hybrid his answer was no. "Don't make me ask again." She toed off her boots in the floorboard of the Jeep, followed by sliding off her socks.

"You can ask all you want, but the answer will still be no."

"Damn it, Robert, I'm bored! I haven't driven _once_ in the entire 3 days we've been driving and it sucks because this is my Jeep!"

Derek flipped another page in his magazine while fighting back a threatening smile. "Says who? Last I checked, everything was under Hammond's name."

The hybrid snorted and she rolled her eyes. "Well it has to be seeing how I don't officially exist and am not a registered citizen of anywhere."

Muldoon cut in. "Will you two shut up? I don't want to hear you two bitch about this again."

"What are you going to do if I don't?" Pet leaned onto the center arm rest and stared intently at the scarred man next to her. "Are you going to pull over? Because if you do, I'm driving next."

Derek rolled up his magazine and swatted the hybrid in the back of the head with it. Muldoon chuckled and looked to the annoyed, snorting young woman. "Serves you right, you brat."

Pet slouched back in the passenger seat and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring out of the window. "I still want to drive."

"And the answer is still no."

In the backseat, Derek unzipped his duffle bag he had resting in the floorboard at his feet and questioned. "Hey Uncle Rob...how much longer till we get there?"

Pet snidely questioned, "Aw does the poor baby need to pee?"

Muldoon tossed a punch at the hybrid's arm, her wincing at the pain. He answered. "About 2 hours, why?" The man tried to look in the rear view mirror at what his nephew was doing, but was unable to clearly see him.

Derek answered. "Was just wondering." He shoved a bottle back into his bag and leaned in closer to the front passenger seat. "Hey Pet..."

"What?" She clearly sounded irritated.

"What does this smell like to you?"

The hybrid's face wrinkled in confusion. "What?" About that time, Derek quickly reached into the front seat with a rag in his hand and firmly held it against the hybrid's face.

Muldoon yelled out, "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" as he hastily pulled over to the side of the road.

The hybrid brought her hands to his and tried clawing at his hands, forgetting she had them filed down. She shrilled behind the rag and kicked at the dashboard with a clawed foot, trying to get free. Derek had her held into the seat with one arm wrapped around the top of her chest with his other pressing the rag into her face. Within moments, the hybrid started to relax before completely going limp in the seat.

Muldoon looked at the now sleeping hybrid seated next to him and to his nephew in horror. Derek proudly smiled and shoved the rag into a plastic bag he retrieved from his duffle bag. "Chloroform...gets 'em every time."

"Where in the bloody dazes did you get that?" He reached into the bag and soon found the bottle after feeling around for it.

Derek shrugged and yanked the bottle from his uncle. "You use tranquilizers, I use chloroform. We're both hunters in our respective areas. Each to their own."

Muldoon took another look at the hybrid and frowned. "She's going to be pissed when she wakes up." He put the vehicle in gear and drove back onto the highway.

"I'm sure she got a big enough whiff to be out for about an hour and a half or so. I'll worry about it then." Derek lounged back in the seat and continued to read his magazine as though nothing ever happened.


	93. The Dig site

**93 - The Dig Site**

An hour and forty-five minutes later, tents and trailers surrounding an expedition were visible in the valley below, Derek leaning into the front seat to get a better look. "There it is."

"Yep" Muldoon answered back and he looked over to Pet. "Don't suppose you have any smelling salts in that bag of yours, do you?"

Derek dug around in his bag again, this time revealing a small vial. He cracked it open and handed it to his uncle. "Where's my rifle?" Blue eyes locked onto brown ones, the younger man confused. "What? If she comes after my ass, I want to be prepared!"

"There is no _if_. She _will_." He took the bottle and waved it under the hybrid's nose. "And you should have thought about that before you knocked her out." Pet started to stir from where she slouched as her blue-green eyes lazily fluttered open. She blinked back the residual disorientation before remembering what happened.

She snorted as her eyes shifted to a raptor's. "Where is that piece of..." Pet grumbled and forced herself up, groaning against the headache pounding everywhere in her head. "Derek!"

The young man sat in the backseat, evilly smiling. "You deserved it." The hybrid shrilled and lunged for the man, but Muldoon was quick to grab her around her waist in an effort to at least try and save his nephew. Another loud shrill filled the interior of the Jeep and Derek gestured to the hybrid for her to take her best shot. The woman swung a hand at the backseat passenger as he leaned over in the seat, narrowly avoiding in getting hit. "That's the best you got?" 

Muldoon was now struggling to retrain the hybrid, trying his best to avoid the sickle claws from slashing his arms. "Damn it, Derek, I have a good mind to let her go! This is your mess, not mine!" Before Pet could take another attempt to swipe at Derek, she found herself harshly jerked back and slammed down in her seat. "Sit down!" The hybrid hissed a sharp snort while never taking her raptor eyes off the man seated behind her. "We're not far from the dig site. Try to keep control of yourself?" Muldoon then looked to his nephew. "And you... grow up. Stop antagonizing." The younger man held his hands up in the air, as though signaling a surrender, but the smile on his face stated otherwise.

Pet, face now flustered from frustration and her struggling, glanced out into to the valley to see the dig site. Her mind quickly shifted from her anger aimed at Derek to the dig site below. So many thoughts filled her mind. _He_ was down there and it made her nervous. Would he welcome her? Be afraid of her? Want her to leave? Thinking further into it drew a frown to her slightly curled, upper lip and her eyes to sink in sadness. What worried her the most was; would she be able to restrain herself in stressful situations, especially should she have a blood crave?

Muldoon could almost feel the change in emotions radiating from the hybrid as well as Derek as both men looked to the other via the rear view mirror. Hoping to retain their good terms, the backseat passenger leaned in closer to the hybrid and rested a chin on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Pet. I'm sure everything will work out fine." The woman whimpered and sunk further into the seat, skeptical.


	94. The Arrival

**94 - The Arrival**

Gradually, the site grew larger the closer the Jeep neared until they had finally arrived. Muldoon parked the vehicle amongst the others at the site and paused, looking to Pet. "Alright, let's get this over with, shall we?" He shot his nephew a stern look. "You, stay in the car."

"Okay. Whatever" and the younger man lounged back to lay his head on the back of the seat, closing his eyes. "Just holler if you need me and I'll come running with the gun."

Pet rolled her eyes and grabbed her sun shades laying on the dashboard. The game warden grabbed his own shades and signature hat from the dashboard and slid out of the car, waiting on the hybrid. Quickly, and with shaking hands, the young woman tugged her boots back on and joined the man. He spoke. "Get your jacket on."

The hybrid grumbled and shoved her hands into the back pockets of her blue jeans. "It's 90 something degrees out here, Robert. The whole point is _not_ to draw attention to myself." They locked gazes from behind their shades, the man shaking his head. "Now where in this shit hole is Grant?"

A man's voice called from nearby, it startling Pet as she turned to face the source of the voice. A hansom looking man, appearing to be in his mid twenties and covered from head to toe in limestone dust, smiled at the two people. "Can I help you with something?"

Before Pet could answer, Muldoon cut her off. "Yes, we're looking for Dr. Grant. Any chance you can show us where he is?"

"Absolutely." His hazel eyes examined the two newcomers, him seeing traces of scarring visible beneath the shades and hat of the taller man. He then examined the younger woman, taking note of her golden tanned skinned. From what he could tell, these two people weren't museum curators. Site volunteers, maybe? Or perhaps more people looking to ask more questions about the Jurassic Park incident. "I'm guessing one of you is the new specialist?"

Pet answered. "That would be me." She made sure to keep her lips parted to a bare minimum when speaking so as not to reveal her carnivorous like teeth.

"Excellent. I was afraid you guys might've been sight seers or another group of people wanting to know about the incident." Both Muldoon and Pet stared impatiently at the site worker, the hybrid digging her claws into her boots. "Its just..." the man continued awkwardly, "you don't look much like a specialist. No offense or anything."

The hybrid took a step towards the man, continuing. "You're looking at two people who probably know more about dinosaurs, raptors especially, then you do."

He seemed offended and his hazel eyes momentarily slimmed down on the woman as he forced a smile. "Right, right." He scratched his head, slightly annoyed. "By the way, I'm Billy…Billy Brennan. I'm Dr. Grant's protégé, I guess you could say."

Pet was already finding it hard to restrain herself as she stopped herself from hissing a snort. "Charmed. Now where's Dr Grant?"

He lightly nodded, him turning. "Follow me, then."

She did and felt herself become flustered with excitement and anxiety. They wove between tents, people and equipment, until finally arriving at a large, white canopy where two computers sat on fold out tables. There, leaning over some computer print-outs were Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler, discussing something to themselves. Dr. Sattler saw the three walk up from the corner of her eye and turned to face them. The welcoming smile she wore sunk into shock and horror when she saw the two familiar faces. Pet, however, wasn't paying attention to the other woman as her gawk was honed onto Dr. Grant, who hadn't yet turned to face them.

Ellie immediately remembered Muldoon and recognized the hybrid from the Jurassic Park island and started to tap the man next to her on the shoulder. She continued to force a smile for courtesy sake as she spoke. "Alan…turn around." He didn't pay Ellie any attention and continued to talk to himself about the readouts. "Turn around, honey, we have company."

Again, he ignored Ellie, Billy speaking up. "Our raptor specialist is here, Dr. Grant."

The scientist finally spoke in acknowledgement, but still didn't turn around. "Excellent. I'm glad you finally arrived. From what Hammond was saying you were supposed to get here earlier this morning." He checked the time on his watch, it now being late morning.

Pet shifted her stance uncomfortably and looked to Muldoon. "Yeah well, we got lost along the way. Not to mention a few pit stops here and there." The game warden glared at the hybrid and she knew he was mentally cussing at her in his head. She sneered.

Grant continued. "Been working out of state then, I take? Mongolia? I hear there is a nice little chain of excavations going on there."

Pet briefly met the worried stare of Ellie, who was now politely jabbing the man in the side to get his attention. The hybrid answered. "No, actually, I've been doing observational research the past few years or so years on Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna."

The man paused in his flipping through the readouts and slowly turn his head a bit to look over his shoulder from beneath the brim of his hat. His eyes fell on the scarred, strict features of Muldoon before rolling his attention to the hybrid.

He straightened and turned to completely face Pet, the shocked expression on his face causing Pet's to turn into worry. She forced a smile and sighed. "Hello, Dr. Grant."

"You…" He neared the hybrid as though disbelieving what he was seeing. "I thought you were dead."

Pet pressed her lips together and swallowed. "Yeah I've been getting that a lot, lately." Billy looked puzzled to his mentor and over to the new arrival as Ellie quickly guided him off. Both Grant and Pet starred at each other, unable to speak for several moments. Seeing the look in his blue eyes burned the young woman inside and she frowned, regretfully. "I'm sorry Hammond didn't tell you it was me. I figured he would have mentioned something..."

Grant shook his head and swallowed. "No, he didn't He made no mention it was going to be _you_." He neared her to examine her more, still unsure he was seeing what he was seeing. "How did you…?"

She shrugged. "I've just depended on my own survival instincts to get me through. It worked, I guess. I'm still alive."

"The T-Rex…I heard you scream before we drove off…I thought…_we_ thought you were dead."

"I know. Ian told me when I saw him not too terribly long ago." Pet slid her shades off to reveal blue-green eyes, it surprising Muldoon. She dug her hands at the inside of her pants pockets, feeling awkward in the spotlight of the man's shocked stare. "But yet no one bothered to wait and see if I was or wasn't…or even if I was just needing help getting out."

"Hammond didn't want to risk the lives of everyone still alive for one person." He starred into her eyes and studied them. "I'm surprised your eyes aren't _different_." There was a distance in his voice when he spoke, it almost as though he were fascinated by the fact her eyes seemed so normal, given what she was. A faint smile tugged at his mouth, Pet feeling her insides start to melt.

She cleared her throat and looked away, nodding. "I've been practicing on self control."

Grant remembered what Hammond had told him in the helicopter as they were leaving the island and flying back to mainland. She always had a weakness for him every since she was younger when she first saw him doing his documentary. The thought of made him extremely uncomfortable and his smile faded. Further more when he realized how close his face was to hers.

He grabbed her arm and led her to the tent Ellie had just gone inside of. "Dr Sattler can I please speak with you?"

* * *

**Change to the change to the change. It would probably help if I proof read this stuff before posting it. Some of this stuff is months to a couple years old...**


	95. Grant's Rules

**95 - Grant's Rules**

Pet jerked her arm out of Grant's grasp and shot him a warning glare he chose to ignore as he drug her to a small, white trailer. Ellie was following as Billy watched from outside the tent, curious to know what was going on. Once inside the trailer, Grant released his grip on the hybrid's arm, Ellie closing the door. "What exactly are you doing here?" His voice had more of an 'I dare you' sound to it than anything.

Pet seemed offended. "I'm here to help you at your site. You need the funding and I need a place to stay for a little while."

The trailer door opened, revealing Muldoon, the man pausing when he felt the tense air from within the trailer pour out. Quietly, he entered the cluttered office and stood against a nearby counter. Littering the top of it were boxes for sifting through dirt and plastic containers holding different sized fossils. Grant paid no attention to the other man and continued aiming his focus on the hybrid.

He tossed his signature hat to the side on a chair and neared the younger woman's face. "Now what are you _really_ doing here?"

"I told you!" She snipped back.

Blue eyes of the scientist thinned on the woman, his patience growing thin. "I don't feel comfortable with you being here."

Ellie cut in. "Why? What is it?"

Grant continued. "I know what you're capable of doing! I'm not about to let you turn my excavation site into your personal feeding ground!"

Pet slapped the man's finger from her face, growling. "Don't ever point your finger in my face! Just a warning." She narrowed her eyes, shifting to a raptor's. The man was momentarily thrown off by this and took a step back. "Things can get ugly." Muldoon slid off his own hat, messing with the brim, and nodded his head.

"I think its best you leave my dig site this afternoon."

Muldoon cut in. "Not to worry, Dr. Grant. We'll stay out of your way."

The scientist shook his head. "Its not you I'm worried about. Its _her!_"

Again, Ellie cut in. "Alan what has gotten into you? Why are you being so rude to her?"

Grant ignored the woman and turned his stare back on the hybrid. "You're here for the wrong reason, Missy."

Pet folded her arms over her chest and snorted. "I do have an _official_ name now, y'know. You're the one who gave it to me, remember?"

"I don't need you here." His tone of voice was almost a growl, now.

"Last time I heard, you were running out of funds and only 2 months shy of loosing your dig. That is, unless generosity started flowing." She held out her hands. "My being here is flowing the generosity. Be thankful."

"I remember the last time your generosity flowed, _Veronica_. Spare me, this time. I don't need it."

Pet rolled her eyes. "I told you I'm not here to 'feed' on your research workers."

"That's not what I'm talking about!" The man's shouting got everyone's attention, Pet hissing a bark in growing annoyance.

Ellie looked at both of them, her seeing the man's face become red and flustered with anger. "Alan, I think its great she's here. She can help us out a lot with her knowledge of these things. She's worked and lived with these dinosaurs out in the wild for several years, now. I'm sure she'd be willing to tell you all about their living habits. How they hunt, how they live. Hell I'm sure she can even tell you if raptors do or don't have a social ability of a sorts. There's so much we can learn from her, honey."

Grant shot a backward glance at his close friend, the man becoming more frustrated. "You're not helping, Ellie."

She sighed. "I just don't get what is with you, that's all. When we left the island all you were concerned about was going back to get her. You sulked for months after getting Hammond's letter, feeling like it was your fault that she died. Now that she's here, _alive_, you're wanting her gone."

Pet watched the two start to argue about her as though she wasn't there and watched the man turn his attention from her and to the other woman. "She's not here to help with the dig, Ellie! She's here for herself. She's infatuated with me which is why she is here!"

Muldoon desperately fought back his urge to laugh, knowing it was true as Pet interrupted. "Excuse me? _Infatuated?_" She screeched a snort. "Let me tell you something, Dr Alan Grant, I would come closer to mating with Ian Malcolm than you."

"Oh really?" His expression shifted a little bit, as though he was hurt by her comment. "That's not the impression I got when we arrived back to the visitor center. _You_ _kissed me_!"

Pet ran her dulled claws over her face and loudly groaned. "Oh for crying out loud!" She began pacing around the tiny quadrant clear of fossil crates and boxes. "If memory serves me right, it was a mutual thing." Their stares locked, the hybrid snorting. "I'd never kissed anyone until then, but from what I could tell, I wasn't the only one in the moment."

Muldoon stopped toying with his hat and looked to the hybrid, surprised. "You never told me about this."

Ellie's jaw dropped in equal shock. "What?"

Grant was enraged and his gaze dripping with acid in the direction of the hybrid. She cocked her head to the side and sneered. "I can either be your best friend or your worst enemy and trust me, you don't want me as your enemy." Her statement came off as more of a threat as her carnivorous teeth shined beneath a half curled upper lip. "I came here under the impression I had a friend in you and Dr Sattler and that I could rely on someone to help me right now. All that's needed is a place to stay for a little while." She crossed her arms back over her chest. "And besides, you still owe me. I put my life on the line _twice_ for your ass so you could escape to safety."

Ellie stood between the two bickering people and interrupted their argument. "Guys stop fighting, already!" When Pet snorted, Ellie jumped back at the sound. She still remembered the nightmarish shrills and shrieks the raptors made and knew it would take some time to get used to the hybrid.

Pet wanted to strike out at the man before her, but knew deep inside, she could never hurt him. Muldoon stood up from where he leaned and spoke. "Its understandable why your pissed, at the moment Dr Grant, but this is a desperate situation. InGen has recently discovered Pet is alive, as well, and have already made a couple attempts to hunt her down and kill her."

Grant scoffed. "Yes I know. They were just here a couple weeks ago, tearing up my excavation trying to find her! Tents, trailers...even vehicles." He studied the hybrid. "And now that Hammond has sent you here, InGen will eventually come back."

"No they won't." The hybrid shook her head and studied the two scientists. "They're not even completely sure I'm still alive. The last time anyone from InGen saw me was on Isla Sorna when I sent T-Rex crashing through their hunters' camp." Muldoon snickered in the background with the memory of, a proud smile stretched across his face.

Grant questioned. "Hunters?"

His eyes widened and shot to where the game warden stood, Muldoon explaining. "With a shoot to kill order."

Pet continued. "Anything InGen can do to cover up their little mistake they'll do it."

The paleontologist ran his hands through his dust layered hair and sighed. "What happens when they discover you _are_ in fact _alive_? They'll come back here and find you! I cant risk loosing my site to legal issues over you being here should that happen."

Ellie's disappointed eyes fell on the man next to her. "Well, we cant just leave her abandoned!"

Pet's shoulder's sunk as her overall posture slouched. "Alan, please..." At hearing the young woman call him by his first name, he met her gaze and winced. "I'm begging you." His blue eyes fell on her raptor ones and he frowned. "I really need your help right now. If I can't hide here then tell me where I can."

Grant studied the silently pleading watches of the two women before turning his attention to the intimidating, scarred stare of Muldoon. Something about that man's stare unnerved Grant. Maybe it was the memory of the island, or the possible thought of the potential danger the hybrid posed. He sighed, guilt tugging at his insides. "Fine." Ellie threw herself onto the man and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. He hugged her in return, though loosely compared to hers and kept a stern stare on the hybrid. "_But_…if at any time you do something I don't like, you're gone."

Pet shoved her hands back into her pockets and hoped the people couldn't see her knees shaking in relief. "Define what you don't like…"

The man pulled away from Ellie's hug to better stare at the other woman. "Attempting to eat and or mate with any of my volunteer workers. That includes me as well" he concluded in demand. Muldoon coughed back a laugh and slid his beige safari hat back on his head, studying the deep in thought hybrid.

Ellie mumbled, "Honey be reasonable…"

"I am!"

Pet nodded in agreement. "Alright. Sounds fair."

"Then we have a deal" and he outstretched his hand to the hybrid, her taking it cautiously. "I'll be watching every move you make, Veronica."

She didn't say anything or make a move as he walked out, Ellie giving her a sympathetic look over her shoulder as she left the trailer as well. Pet met gazes with Muldoon and smiled sinisterly, the man not liking the ideas he could imagine running through her head.


	96. No Mention Of

**96 - You Said Nothing Of...**

Grant paused outside the office trailer, waiting for the other two new comers and sighed, staring blankly at Ellie. She pressed out a sincere smile and lightly gripped the man's arm. "Honey, I'm sure it'll be alright. She seems in control, for the most part."

About that time, Billy walked up to the two scientists with another stranger following him. Grant studied the other man and questioned. "Who are you?"

Muldoon called out from exiting the trailer. "Damn it, Derek, I thought I told you to stay in the car!"

Grant shot his attention to the scarred game warden and pointed a finger at the younger man accompanying his protégé. "Who the hell is this?"

The younger man answered for his uncle. "Derek Muldoon."

The game warden cut in. "My nephew."

Ellie questioned in curiosity. "Are you a game warden, too?"

Derek chuckled and shook his head. "No, ma'am, I'm a bounty hunter." The color in Billy's face drained and he slowly turned his attention to the seemingly innocent, slightly younger and smiling man standing next to him. _Bounty hunter?_ Something about this guy didn't seem normal and Billy nonchalantly increased the distance between him and the other man.

Grant threw his hands up in the air. "Lovely. Absolutely great. This keeps getting better and better." He stormed off, but stopped to continue. "I'm leaving this to you, Ellie. I've got other things to do."

Billy nervously scratched his neck and stammered, "I, uh...I'm gonna go help Alan" and he scurried off.

Ellie's face was blistering red with embarrassment and she spoke, trying to sound calm and collected. "So, will it be you three then? No one else?"

Derek shook his head. "I'm not expecting anyone else." He looked to his right. "Uncle Rob? Pet?" The two addressed people glared at the third member of their group, him smiling. "Nope. No one else. Looks like you're good."

The paleobotanist folded her hands in front of her and nodded. "Okay. Next thing is; where to put you guys for the time being." She studied their expressions, squinting against the overhead sun. "Maybe a trailer or something, unless you brought your own."

Pet answered. "All we have is a Jeep and like hell I'm staying the night in that thing with him." She pointed at Derek, the man looked offended. "Hey, you chloroformed me so don't give me that look!" Ellie's eyes widened as she looked to the two in speechlessness.

Derek proudly beamed. "Girls can't say no when they're unconscious!" Simultaneously, the young man got hit by hybrid backhanding him in the gut and his uncle slapping him in the back of the head offensively. "Owe! I was kidding! Sheesh..."

"Okay, well..." Ellie turned her gaze to where Grant was, talking to Billy beside the fossil cleaning tent. "Maybe Alan has someplace you guys can stay for the time being." The three followed her as she approached the man, him grumbling when he saw the entourage in close pursuit. Angrily, he grabbed her by the arm and drug her off to the side to talk in private.

Billy studied the young woman of the group, curious to know what it was about her that had his boss so on edge. He could see her trying to look inside the tent and spoke. "This is where we keep fossil fragments for cleaning and analysis. At the end of the month, a crew from the Natural History Museum comes to pick them up."

Pet's attention drifted up to meet his hazel eyes, a pleasant smile on his face. She gave a shy smile back and glanced back at the fossils strewn out on several fold out tables. Grant saw his protégé eyeing the newcomer to the site and frowned. He didn't like the look in the younger man's eye and walked away from Ellie, talking in mid sentence, to where Billy stood. Trying to avoid the angered man, the hybrid went into the tent as Derek followed, curious. He had never been to an excavation site and felt a boyish excitement swell in his chest.

Annoyed, Grant popped his protégé in the back of the head, Billy breaking his attention away from the newly arrived young woman. "What?" Grant didn't respond verbally but gave a stern warning glare at the younger man. "Alright, alright…geez sorry." He lightly laughed, watching Grant walk around the table to where Pet stood, studying a tooth.

Grant ignored Derek next to her and whispered. "We had a deal."

Pet didn't meet his tempered gaze, but kept her attention on the tooth half the size of her hand and responded in a dull whisper. "You said volunteer workers and yourself. He's your protégé meaning he earns a paycheck. Getting paid means he's not a volunteer and he sure as hell isn't you." She then met scientist's frustrated stare. "You said nothing of not eating or mating with your protégé, Dr. Grant." She sneered as she brought her attention back to Billy, now talking with Ellie. For a brief moment, they met gazes only for Billy to see the intimidating glare of Grant. The hybrid saw this from the corner of her eye and continued. "So defensive, Dr. Grant." Again she looked to the scientist to see a 'back off' glint in his eye aimed at his protégé. "Or jealous…"

He growled a whisper into her ear, "I'm not jealous." Pet set the tooth down and left the tent, Grant eyeing Ellie who had an amused smile on her face.

He joined her and questioned. "And what exactly is so damn funny?"

She let herself laugh more while shaking her head. "You. You're a piece of work, Alan, you know that?"

"Come on Ellie, she's here for the wrong reasons! At least the most you could do is defend me against her. And who's side are you on, anyway?"

Ellie continued. "Y'know, I think I'm going to stay here a couple more days. The show of watching you two go at it is way too amusing."

"Not for me." He looked back in the direction the hybrid and friends left in, sighing. "She's going to kill me before age can."


	97. Ol Quarantine

**97 - Ol' Quarantine**

Ellie smiled at her close friend and gave him a comforting hug. "Have any ideas where Veronica and the others can stay?"

Grant didn't hesitate before responding. "_She_ can find a rock to sleep under for all I care. The others are more than welcome to use the bunk room in my trailer, if they want."

Ellie nudged the man, giggling. "C'mon honey, be serious."

"I was!"

She shook her head, still laughing, and visually searched the dig site of the trailers. She mentally listed what each of the different sized trailers were used for until her eyes fell on one across the excavation, off to the side. "What about the storage trailer? Its big enough to fit at least 5 people. Just needs a little cleaning and I'm sure it'll be fine."

The man gave her a confused frown. "You mean Ol' Quarantine? That trailer hasn't been used to house someone in at least a couple years. Just the fumes alone from the chemicals and gas would be enough to make anyone sick."

"Like I said, it'll take a little while to clean before it will be livable." Ellie lead Grant through the tents and vehicles dotting throughout the excavation to where a worn out, white and tan trailer sat across the way.

He reached into his pocket to get a set of keys out and unlocked the door, opening it. The place was cluttered with boxes stacked on top of each other as they sat in stacks on the floor, kitchen counter and bar tops as well as the couch. A blanket of dust covered everything in the trailer, Ellie looking to the even more frustrated scientist beside her. They weren't aware the trailer was in such a disorganized mess as the strong over powering smell of gas, cleaning solvents and materials needed for preservation of some of the fossils greeted them.

Grant's face wrinkled in slight disgust, commenting. "It's going to take more than a couple days to completely clean this place out, Ellie."

She grimaced and second guessed her decision. "Well, maybe after letting the place vent out for 2 or 3 days after being cleaned up..." The people met the other's questioning expression, Ellie shrugging. "And like you said, for the time being there's always the bunk room."

Grant sighed out, "Yeah, I know" and planted his hands on his hips. "But I really don't want her anywhere near me."

"Its just until we can get the storage trailer livable for them, honey, then they stay there." Ellie reassured when gesturing to the trailer. "They do need a place to stay for those few days, though, in the meantime." The woman entered the trailer and frowned. "The sooner we start cleaning this place up the sooner they'll be able to move in." Grant coughed back the burning in his throat from inhaling the fumes.

From behind the two, a sun shaded Pet poked her head into the trailer, gasping. "Drs?" She coughed and covered her face with her hand, proceeding into the trailer. "Oh man, this place reeks." The hybrid studied the interior of the building and frowned, seeing two 5 gallon gas cans sitting next to the couch as well as several other jugs of chemicals and stained boxes. "What is this, some type of trailer bomb?"

Ellie gave Grant a comforting yet uncertain smile as he sighed deeply. He watched the hybrid wipe a finger across the kitchen countertop, Ellie speaking. "This is the only uninhabited trailer we have." Both women looked to the other, Ellie trying to smile reassuringly. "Give it a week of cleaning and venting and the place will be good as new."

The hybrid then shot a blank expression behind her shades to the woman, Derek's voice breaking in. "Excuse me? Good as new?"

Grant replied with a smirk on his face. "It's either this or a tent."

Pet studied the cluttered mess of boxes stacked everywhere and frowned. "And exactly where the hell am I supposed to put all these damn boxes?" She started to open one. "What's in these things anyway?" She raised her shades, revealing blue-green eyes, and used the tinted glasses as a makeshift headband.

Ellie joined the hybrid and out of curiosity, started going through boxes too. "I would imagine unused equipment, storage containers…." The two women started shifting through the contents of one of the boxes. "Oh wow…silverware and cooking utensils."

Grant snidely commented. "Well at least you don't need to buy spoons or forks."

Pet started shifting through another box. "Rat traps?" She held up a couple traps still in their packaging and tossed them aside as she dug through the box some more. "Damn, whoever packed these boxes needs serious help." She removed a spatula from the box as well and tossed it into the dust filled sink. Derek pulled open the tabs of another box and peered inside it, finding it full of small plastic food storage containers. The hybrid peered into the box and grumbled. "Great. More stuff to wash."

Grant gave another glower at the hybrid and brought his attention to Ellie. "I'll be back in a little while. I still need to go through all those readouts from earlier. Will you be staying here?" The woman nodded her head and sighed. "Alright." He gave the hybrid another cautious stare and strode away to resume his work.


	98. Mixed Messages

**98 - Mixed Messages**

Pet glanced around the trailer famously known at the excavation as Ol Quarantine, curious. "Hey Derek, where's Robert?"

The addressed man shrugged. "When I last saw him, he was talking to Hammond on the phone by the Jeep. Who knows now. He's probably off trying to hunt down a wild pig or something..."

The hybrid snickered and began un-stacking a few boxes off the counter. "I have an idea."

"Oh shit, look out. Pet has an idea!" Derek knew he was about to get hit and blocked her oncoming slap he knew was aimed at his stomach. "So what was your idea?"

The hybrid dumped out the contents of one of the boxes and set the empty container to the side. "We organize. I'm noticing a lot of these boxes aren't really designated for storing one certain thing, like paint brushes being tossed in with napkins or chisels mixed with cleaning solvents. So..." She picked up a handful of unsharpened pencils and set them aside. "Now, I remember seeing a box of baggies...where was it?"

Derek reached into a box he had moved to the floor and held it up for the hybrid to see. "You mean this?"

Pet reached for it, but the man moved it out of her grasp. "What will you do for it?" He playfully smiled at her, but she didn't smile back. About that time, the box was snatched from his hands by Muldoon, the game warden tossing the box to the hybrid. "Party pooper."

She smiled to the newly arrived man. "Thank you Robert."

Not realizing it, the man joined Ellie to peer over her shoulder at what she was doing. Pet saw this and smiled, Muldoon noticing her. He wrinkled his brow at the hybrid in confused as she gestured to Ellie with her gaze, winking. Meanwhile, the scientist was too distracted with her organizing and didn't notice the two.

Derek bit back his own smile for his uncle's sake and met the older man's annoyed stare. Muldoon gestured to his nephew, the younger man's smile widening. The bounty hunter's gaze then fell on Pet as he reached over and slapped her in the back of the head. She stopped in her working, glaring at the instigating man. He pointed to his uncle. "Hey, he told me to."

With a screech, Pet pounced on the younger man, him laughing. "Oh yes, please baby, I love it rough!"

Ellie jumped back at the sudden attack from the hybrid, not expecting it, and gasped when she saw the two fall to the floor in a scuffle. Muldoon shook his head. "Not to worry. This is normal for them. It's when they start getting along, you should worry."

Coming into view was Billy, him stopping in his tracks when he saw the two wrestling people almost fall out of the trailer. "Whoa, watch out guys."

Derek looked to the other man, not noticing the hybrid rear back to punch him in the shoulder until he felt it. "Ohhhh you bitch." Pet scoffed and got off her straddling the man. Quickly thinking, Derek hooked his foot around her booted one and attempted to trip her, only to fail. In reaction to, she kicked behind her, it striking him in the calf of his leg. He moaned behind a laugh. "So that's it? But we just started the foreplay!"

Ellie saw the protégé and questioned. "Did you need something, Billy?" 

"Alan sent me to come help you guys." He awkwardly and cautiously entered the trailer, assisting the other man to his feet.

Did Pet just hear him right? Alan sent him to help them, as in her? Was this the same Alan Grant who previously warned her to stay away from his protégé? She was confused by the mixed messages and shrugged, taking another box and emptying it on the countertop as well.

The hybrid stated, "The more help, the merrier."

Billy studied the interesting woman and whispered to Derek. "Quiet a girl you got there."

Derek panted a laugh and shook his head. "Ah hell no. She's not _my_ girl. More like a sister, maybe...In a very messed up way."

The hybrid could hear their whispering behind her, but played it off. She opened the box of gallon sized baggies and pulled out a couple, shoving the handful of pencils into one of them. In light of the short conversation, Billy joined the young woman as Muldoon slimmed his uncertain gaze down on him.

Pet could sense the man's shift in emotion and met his uneasy gaze, him mouthing, "Your eyes" to her.

Not realizing her eyes had changed, she calmly turned from the younger man and slid her shades back on. Had Billy noticed? She hoped not. The man neared closer to her, questioning. "You need help with anything?"

The hybrid could feel herself blush and she tossed the bag of pencils into the empty box nearby. "Well, what I'm doing is dumping out boxes and sorting through stuff to organize it all."

"I see." He took note of the mostly empty box with bag of pencils in it. "I'm guess that box is for office supplies?"

"Yup."

"Okay." He got a baggie for himself and picked up a few pens, a box of staples and erasers scattered amongst the plastic cups, loose empty vials, boxes of candles and other stuff.


	99. An Overall Mess of Things

**99 - An Overall Mess of Things**

By the time mid afternoon had settled over the dig site, several stacks of boxes had been reorganized and repacked with the contents written on the side. The group of people stood back to study their progress, Ellie smiling when she saw Grant standing on the stairs leading to the trailer. He leaned inside and nodded. "Looking good, so far."

Nica, who was seated on the partially cleared off couch next to Muldoon, stated under her breath, "Yup. Definitely looking good." Grant heard the woman's comment and chose to ignore it as Muldoon harshly jabbed the hybrid in the side. She winced in pain and elbowed him back, Billy smiling questionably at the two.

Ellie approached her close friend and noticed the bits of dried plaster on his hands. "Preparing the fossils, I see."

He looked at his hands and tried to dust off the loose bits. "Yeah, the museum team will be arriving next week to get what fossils are ready. I want the plaster to be settled by the time they get here, unlike last time."

Grant's attention fell on Billy, who defended himself. "Hey, don't look at me. I told them the samples weren't ready yet. Not my fault they didn't listen!"

The more Muldoon studied the lead paleontologist, he started to notice something different in his eyes versus earlier in the day. It brought to question what it was that had the man so bothered. Was it the hybrid's presence or the sudden, blind siding discovery he had been played by Hammond's careful choice of words?

Grant continued. "I've taken the liberty of setting up the extra beds in my trailer so there would be enough for everyone. I figured the ladies could bunk together and Billy, if you don't mind a little extra company for the next couple days?"

Billy had always been one for his privacy, but knew there was no arguing his way out of this. It was just for a couple days so what's the worst that could happen? He nodded in acknowledgment. "Yeah, sure. That's fine."

It was Grant's turn to nod, him doing so in approval. "Good. It's settled, then."

He turned and left, Muldoon excusing himself to follow the other man. "Dr. Grant... a word?"

The addressed man paused to glance back at the other. "Something wrong?"

The ex game warden lowered his gaze down on the man. "I was going to ask you the same thing."

"Everything is fine as far as I know" he coolly stated, but his eyes said otherwise.

"Look, if its about earlier, I apologize for-"

Grant held up a hand to wave off the apology, lightly laughing. "No, no its fine. I already spoke to Mr. Hammond about it not too long ago." The memory of the conversation burned at the man's insides, but not with anger. "Speaking of...did you know he was in such bad health?"

The tone of the conversation was now grim instead of the forced 'everything is alright' from before. "As a matter of fact, I did."

"He told me he has weeks, maybe a couple months most left to live." Grant felt the reality and weight of the situation strike him in the chest just as it had upon initially hearing them spoke from Hammond himself. "He's drying, Mr. Muldoon, and has asked in a dying wish that I see to the girl's safe being." Both men stared at the other, Grant's appearing on the brink of a breakdown of the sorts. "I didn't know what to say. I don't even know what to do! What if In-Gen comes back?"

"Leave that to my nephew and I" Muldoon comforted. "Derek has connections to people who have connections inside InGen. Not a day goes by that he isn't keeping up with those connections." Grant cocked a brow. "Resourceful little shit, he is. No worry, though. Should we get wind of anything about to come this way, we'll take our exit."

The paleontologist appreciated the man trying to help, but he was still stressed by the weight of everything. "Everything is just a damn mess right now." Grant heavily sighed, glancing around at the many, oblivious volunteer workers. "I owe her my life and for Ellie's, too, but what's to say someone doesn't find out about her and word gets around?"

"It is something that has been discussed within our circle. We'll see to it Pet keeps to herself."

Grant looked over at Quarantine to see his protégé, the hybrid and Derek emerge from the trailer. He wasn't too particularly fond of how close Billy was standing next to the woman. He could hear her say, "I had to get out of there. That place is giving me a headache."

Muldoon glanced back to see the three and frowned at the same thing the Dr. was. "This was something I feared, but hoped not happening." His blue eyes settled back down on the excavation overseer. "That _unwanted_ male attention to my God daughter."

Grant almost felt like the _unwanted_ part was a jab at him being the _preferred_ attention and grumbled in silent protest. "I'll have a word with Billy. Hopefully that will be that."


	100. Something About the Hat

**100 - Something About The Hat**

A week had passed and finally, the three dig site's new comers moving into their new home. After a series of skirmishes between Pet and Derek, the hybrid finally won at getting the master bedroom to herself while he was made to stay in the back bedroom at the other end of trailer occupied by two sets of bunk beds. He'd complain, but Muldoon would stand up for the hybrid saying how she deserved something to herself, for once, given the hell she'd been through over the years. Knowing it was no use to complain, the bounty hunter would give up and accept it. He was missing his little nook of an apartment, by now, and debated on going back to San Francisco to resume his daily life.

More than once he had thought this, but when thinking back on everything and in watching Pet and his uncle, would remember that other than each other, he was all they really had. Derek sighed and got up from his lounging on the couch to stretch out. He ventured out into the outside to find the hybrid, knowing she had to be around one of two people; Grant or Billy. Sure enough, just as expected he found her not just around one of the two men but with both.

She was kneeling beside the dig site and learning how to properly clear away ground cover from a fossil through Grant's instructions. Billy was laying down next to her and working, trying to impress the present woman with his knowledge in excavating. Derek's first thought to face palm. Didn't Billy know or at least _see_ that as long as Grant was around, the woman would see no one else but him. He had to at least give it to the junior scientist for his constant persistence in attempting to win Pet's affections.

Derek knelt down across the dig site from the others to get a closer look at the fossil. Digging this thing up didn't look like much fun, but just looking at it in general was exciting enough. Pet managed to peel her eyes off the fossil to study the man. "Hey, Derek. What's up?" He shrugged. "What brings you here?"

"Was bored and figured I'd come see what you were up to."

Billy blew off where he had been working, sending a cloud of dust into the air. "You could always grab a pick and brush and help out."

Derek tilted his head to the side. "What is this thing anyway? Like, what species?"

Grant answered, going back over the hybrid's work with a worn out tooth brush. "A Velociraptor."

The younger man started giggling. "Hey Pet, you two might be related!"

She looked up at her friend with a dead pan expression. "You dumb ass." She went back to working as Grant pointed out something she had missed. In his explaining, her blue green eyes would bounce between the fossil and the scientist, her gaze lingering more on the man each time she looked to him.

He was beautiful to her and she couldn't help but admire that. He was even more alluring with the hat on as it gave him that adventurous look about him. The color of the grey head cover complimented and even brought out the color in his eyes. Maybe it was because he was wearing a very similar to hat when she first saw him at Jurassic Park or maybe, it was because she had watched too much Indiana Jones when growing up in Kenya. Either way, she absolutely adored the paleontologist regardless if the hat was there or not. But she'd prefer the hat.

Derek saw the starry eyed stare of the woman aimed at the Dr. and the man's trying hard to ignore it. The more flustered with awkward embarrassment Grant's face got, the broader the smile stretched on Derek's face. Oh if only Pet could see how much of a girly girl she looked like at that moment.

Grant couldn't take it anymore and set his tools down. "Billy, will you continue explaining things to Veronica? I have to go check in with Ellie about something."

The protégé perked up at hearing him finally getting a moment to shine and show off what he knew. Pet frowned watching her center of attention walk away and sighed, looking over to Billy. Though this man laying next to her was still attractive, he just didn't have that same sway over her as Grant did. He needed a hat. Yup, definitely needed a hat. The aspiring paleontologist was all smiles as he continued where his mentor had left off. Derek had to walk away, too. Poor Billy. He was trying so hard, but didn't stand a chance.

* * *

**Though these segments are definitely slower than the other chapters, they're still my favorite to write as a more human side of Pet develops.**


	101. Derek's Big Mouth

**My apologies for the dig site chapters being short and 'lacking any real content'. They're more or less a collection of once one shots I'd written to send to my long time best friend for giggles.**

* * *

**101** \- **Derek's Big Mouth**

A shower was exactly what Pet needed and she dried off, getting dressed in a comfortable tee shirt and shorts. She noticed how dry her skin was and reached into the medicine cabinet to get a small, bottle of lotion. She held it up to the light, frowning. "Damn. Almost out."

Grumbling, she flipped the cap up and stepped out of the bathroom. Lounging on the couch and doing a cross word puzzle was Derek, his chocolate eyes falling on the hybrid. He checked his wrist watch before bringing his attention back to Pet, now squirting a line of lotion onto her arm.

He spoke. "Took you long enough. Almost 15 minutes. You better not have used all the hot water, this time." She gave him a scoff and started rubbing in the lotion. The slightly older man sat up a bit and folded up the paper, setting it down next to him. What was she doing in there for so long, anyway? Usually she took long showers to help with molting, but she looked fine to him. A devious smile stretched across his face. "So...how was he?"

The hybrid squirted a line of lotion down her other arm, a look of confusion on her face. "What are you talking about?"

"Y'know, your fantasy date with Grant." Pet's blue-green eyes shifted to a raptor's and her glare met his smile. She growled, the man continuing. "I'm just curious, what scenario was it? Sex on the beach?" The hybrid snapped the lid on the lotion bottle shut and snorted. "Maybe the dirty excavation one then? I'm going to go with the dirty excavation one. I mean, you were staring at him _pretty hard_ this afternoon." He held up his hands in the air and waved them around, talking in a higher pitched voice. "Oh no, Dr Grant, you dirty man! You want to excavate _what_?" In the blink of an eye, Pet forcefully threw the bottle at the man, it hitting him in the side with a loud crack. The sting from the bottle hitting him caused Derek to frantically rub at his side. He lifted up his shirt to look at his side where he had been hit, surprised to find a red welt in the shape of the bottle. "You bitch!" he laughed.

Pet scoffed. "Serves you right, you little shit."

He continued to tease the girl. "It's sad your own fantasies are a disappointment." Pet rested her clawed hands on the kitchenette counter top and dug her claws into it. "He is getting older, I suppose. Seems like to me, you need someone younger." He checked his watch again. "I guess I can spare a few minutes." Derek could see the hybrid was getting more irritated and before he could get up to run out of the trailer, she had lunged over the kitchenette bar to tackle him. He could barely focus behind his own laughter and struggled against the hybrid pinning him down. She snorted, him smiling wider. "Tell me this...was the hat on or off?"

"Oh you little-" She shrilled and punched him in the side where the lotion bottle had hit. He grumbled against the punch, but still couldn't stop laughing. "I'm going to kick your ass!"

"Oh yes, please, you know I like it rough!" The two were so caught up in their wrestling that they didn't notice the trailer door open. Ellie and Grant looked to the two roughing around on the floor, unsure of whether or not to go inside. The older man stepped inside just enough to see if he could find the plastic bucket with hopefully clean fossils in it, Derek seeing him from the corner of his eye. "I'm going with the hat on!" She shrilled again and dug a sickle claw into his pants, tearing them. Grant paused to look to the younger man, not really sure if he wanted to know what was being referred to. Ellie stepped in to help look for the fossils, an amused smile on her face. Again, Derek continued in the high pitched voice. "So dirty! Here, let me clean you off!"

Also coming into the trailer was Muldoon, shaking his head when hearing his nephew. "I don't want to know what fucked up role play you two are into, this time."

Pet growled. "The one where I disembowel him."

Derek brought his hands to cover his head as the hybrid started playfully punching and slapping him. He continued. "Is this before or after I get to excavate your dig site?" She punched him again, this time in the chest. "But I've got a bone to pick with you! Literally!"

Muldoon reached down and tugged the hybrid off the younger man. "Its like working with a bunch of chimps all over again!"

Ellie tried to hide her snickers behind her hand and looked to her best friend next to her, staring at her in disbelief. He shook his head and mumbled to the woman, "Have fun" as he left the trailer. He was almost certain what the two younger people were joking about and wasn't sure if he should feel awkward, irritated or offended. Either way, the more distance he put between himself and them was probably the best thing he could do for himself at that moment.

Grant could hear Pet in the back ground state, "Damn it, Derek. You and your big mouth!"


	102. Breakfast Date

**102 - Breakfast Date**

The weekend had finally come and with it, a much needed break. A chance to sleep in. Grant looked over at his digital alarm clock sitting on the night stand to see it was almost 8 AM. Given a weekday, he would have already been up by now, showered, had breakfast and working somewhere with in the dig site.

He could hear Billy just now getting up and rummaging around in the kitchen. Hopefully he wasn't going to attempt to cook breakfast again, because that turned out so well the last time. What was assumed to be a dead fire alarm came to life in ear piercing chirps, drawing the attention and aide from nearby dig site volunteers. The kitchen window and front door were opened, allowing a plume of smoke to escape the confines of the trailer. One volunteer had come running to the trailer with a fire extinguisher, only to learn the smoke was from burned bacon and biscuits left in the oven too long.

Grant continued to lay there in the comforts of his warm bed and fluffy down comforter, pretending everything was going to be alright until he heard a skillet hit the oven burner. This wasn't going to be good. Grumbling in protest of getting up, Grant got to his feet and went into the kitchen. Billy, wearing only a pair of flannel pajama pants, yawned out, "Morning, Alan." He went to the fridge to get the carton of eggs and half full package of bacon. "Sorry if I woke you up. I was trying to be quiet." He scratched his head full of hair, which was a disheveled mess on his head, and turned to the sink to rinse off a spatula. "Care for some breakfast?"

Grant shuffled over to the small dining table and sat down, seeing the morning paper stare him in the face. "Oh good, Albert made the paper run this morning."

"Yeah, I heard him come in this morning around 6 something and lay it on the table." Billy opened the lid to the eggs, him getting of the 12 remaining. "Alan? Breakfast?"

The Dr. flipped open the paper. "Yeah, make me 2 and don't over do them this time!"

The protégé nervously cleared his throat. "Hey, uh, I hope you don't mind but I invited Veronica over for breakfast this morning." He watched Grant go rigid where he sat. "She's a cool chick, y'know?"

The older man's head slowly turned to stare at the man in both annoyance and disbelief. "You did what?"

"Yeah, I thought it'd be a good chance to make good with her some more."

Grant repeated the words slowly out loud. "Make good?" Billy nodded behind a boyish smile. "You don't 'make good' with her. You run and stay as far away from her as you can!"

Billy hesitated in cracking another egg, him holding it a couple inches above the mixing bowl's rim. "Why, what's so bad about her? She's seems alright to me." He cracked the egg and reached for another. "She's smart, witty...hot." Grant almost gave himself a concussion face palming so hard. "Do you think her dad would mind me asking her on a date one night?"

What? "Her _dad_?" Grant slimmed his eyes down on his protégé. "If you're talking about that tall fellow, that's not her dad."

After cracking 5 eggs, he reached into a drawer full of other cooking utensils to get a whisk. "Really? I thought so."

"No. He's just more or less a legal guardian."

A touch of pepper and the eggs were good to go. The younger man began beating everything together. "Well, think he would mind anyway?"

"_Yes_!" Grant remembered Muldoon calling Billy's little attention to the hybrid unwanted. "He's very protective over her and if you're wanting approval, you're going to have to prove you can be trusted." Heh. If only the younger man knew what was meant by that.

"Okay. Where do I start?" A knock came at the door, Billy almost dropping the mixing bowl in his pouring the eggs into the skillet. "Shit" he grumbled to himself. Grant shot him a side ways glare and shook his head. After recollecting himself, he called out, "Come in."

Pet had heard the rumbling around from within the kitchen and slowly opened the trailer's door. She poked her head inside. "Hello?"

Billy scraped out the remaining eggs from the bowl before sitting it in the sink. "Good morning!" He took a good head to toe look of the woman wearing her favorite boots, blue jeans and a body hugging, black tee shirt. The shirt hugged her body's curves as he found himself distracted. "You look nice" he boyishly stated.

Pet blushed and drove her hands into the back pockets of her pants. "Thanks." She looked at the young scientist, taking note of his tee shirt tan line and pajama pants. "Nice to see you dressed up." She ran a hand through his messy hair, huffing a laugh. "I like the hair" and went to sit down at the table, across from Grant. He made sure to not make eye contact with her as her eyes took in every detail of the man wearing a white tee shirt and dark blue pajama pants. To Pet, it didn't seem to matter what this man wore; he looked good in anything.


	103. Pet's Make Over

**103 - Pet's Make Over**

After breakfast, Pet found herself whisked away by Ellie for some girl talk or whatever as the two girls disappeared into a smaller trailer. Grant was heading towards Quarantine with Billy in tow, amused at how asking for permission to date the young woman was going to go. At first, he didn't want to be bothered with this, but was finally talked into it after Billy promised to clean _all _the little fossils for the next week. It was well known how much the protégé _hated_ cleaning the little bits of rocks and fossils as it was tedious and mind numbing. Being given the opportunity to torture the man with what he hated the most was just as tempting as watching him be told no in his request.

Muldoon stared down at Billy, a scowl on his features. He had just sat there and allowed himself to endure this whelp's asking for permission to take Pet on a date. It was only a matter of time before it came to this, seeing how the kid had been following around Pet like a lost puppy past two weeks. At least he had the courtesy of asking for permission rather than take it upon himself to ask her without.

Though Muldoon wasn't too partial to this guy, Billy had been treating Pet with respect and even like a gentlemen on occasion by opening doors to trailers for her. The ex game warden leaned back where he had been sitting, over his own plate of breakfast, and studied the anxious, younger man. "Alright" he finally answered, gesturing to Derek with a fork stabbed into a piece of sausage. "But he goes with."

Derek's head snapped up from his eating breakfast to gawk wide eyed at his uncle. "_What? Oh hell no!_"

Muldoon glaring at him in annoyance and in scheming silenced the bounty hunter. "And while you're out, pick up some ammo for the artillery."

Derek furrowed his brow and squared his eyes down on the man across the table from him. After a couple minutes, he understood what was being asked and nodded in understanding. "I can do that." He turned around in his seat to look back at Grant, baffled beneath his hat, and questioned. "Hey Doc, are there any ammo stores around here? Say, for a rifle?"

The paleontologist was further more confused. "What type of rifle are we talking about, here?"

"Well, more like rifles..."

* * *

Pet looked at herself in the mirror, completely taken back by her reflection. Ellie had done wonders to make her look nice. She was wearing a conservative amount of make up as light shade of brown eye shadow accentuated her eyes. Pale rose lip gloss highlighted her normally dry lips and loose curls teased her hair. Pet even had her finger nails painted, too. She looked down at them and smiled at the rust brown color.

"Wow" she stated, smiling brightly. "I can't begin to say thank you enough."

Ellie wrapped an arm around the other woman's shoulders. "You're welcome. After all, what girl doesn't like getting spruced up in their own way to feel pretty?" A knock sounded at the trailer door causing the older woman to grimace. "That would probably be Alan. Sometimes, I don't he knows what it means to take a day off." She went to the door and opened, finding it to be Billy instead. That was her next guess, as he was usually sent to fetch her when his mentor was too busy to break away. "Don't tell me...Alan needs me for something, right?"

Billy took one look at the paleobotanist and shook his head. "Uh, actually no I was here for Veronica."

At hearing her name, the hybrid poked her head out of the trailer. "I heard me name?"

Billy's eyes lit at seeing the woman. "Yeah, hi" he sheepishly said, not expecting to find the woman so dolled up and pretty.

Coming up behind him and through a couple tents were Derek and Grant, both looking a bit disgruntled. Pet stepped out of the trailer, smiling, causing Derek to stop in his tracks roughly 15 feet from where she stood. He stared at her in disbelief. "What the..." He turned out to yell out, "Hey Uncle Rob! You need to come see this shit! Pet's wearing make up!" Pet snorted and stormed over to the man. _SMACK!_ "Owe." He rubbed the back of his head, but his smile hadn't faltered. "You look like a chick!" He dodged another attempt to hit him.

With the two people bickering, no one bothered to notice Grant staring at the hybrid with unblinking eyes. Even he was taken by surprise by the unexpected appearance of the woman. There was no denying it, she definitely looked quiet nice.

Derek grimaced again. "Owe! Hey stop it, will you? You'll break a nail!" Pet slapped him across the back, causing him to squirm where he stood. "Alright, alright, already!" He laughed, rubbing at his back. "So violent! Someone might think you're half animal or something!" Derek ducked a hand coming right him and took off running back towards Quarantine.

Ellie nudged Grant in the side, eagerly smiling at him and motioning with her eyes at the hybrid. The man's face instantly flustered with blush at being caught staring at the younger woman. Especially since it was his ex girlfriend who did the busting. "Well" she questioned under her breath. "Are you just going to stand there?"

Grant stared at her. So that was the reason for the make over. She was trying to play match maker. "I don't like her like that" he growled defensively and spun on a heel to leave the scene.

"Uh huh." She watched him leave. He could deny it all he wanted, but she knew him better than that The mouth may lie but the body doesn't.


	104. Driver's Prerogative

**I am aware the song and song reference used later in this chapter did not exist in the timeframe this originally would've taken place in. This chapter was originally a one shot I did for a good friend for comedy sake.**

* * *

**104 - Driver's Prerogative**

The drive from the excavation and to the nearest town was torturously long. Derek had music playing, but it was more to fill the quiet void that had taken over the red Jeep's cab. Pet was flipping through a magazine about ways to improve skin care as Billy sat in the back seat, bored. He had decided to join the two in their trek into town, seeing how he had been wanting to spend more time with the young woman. It was either this stay at the dig site. At least with these two, things could be either intelligent or amusing. But not today. Things were flat out dull and uneventful, which had the junior scientist curious. Anytime the two were away from Muldoon, they were never quiet. There had to be more to it.

The current song playing on a CD ended, Derek reaching over to turn up the volume for the next song. Good thing Pet wasn't paying him attention or she'd notice the shit eating grin he was wearing. As soon as Pet heard the next rock song on Derek's play list start up, she paused in reading her magazine mid sentence. Her blue green eyes slimmed down on the stereo, her thinking how the song sounded a bit familiar in its own way. Then she heard it; the opening lyrics. Her expression contorted to speechlessness when realizing the song was a remade rock version of one of her favorite songs.

Her head swiveled to face the Jeep driver, who was happily singing to the lyrics while drumming on the steering wheel and jiving in the seat. He didn't have to look at the hybrid to completely see the expression on her face for he already imagined how she'd respond. Seated in the back seat and watching the passing by scenery was Billy, him too a bit taken by surprise by the remade song. He as well as everyone else at the excavation knew how much Pet _loved_ the female pop band's original version. His questionable stare went to Derek before settling on the slightly irritated young woman seated next to him. A part of the young paleontologist greatly worried of an almost predictable lashing out from the woman and anxiously held his breath with anticipation.

The more the song went on however, the woman's reaction became a mix of unreadable glares. Her eyes would slim down on the driver as she would drum her fingers on the center arm rest as though debating on what to do.

Derek still paid the woman no attention as he sang a part of the lyrics out load. "_You're on a different road, I'm in the Milky Way. You want me down on earth, but I am up in space. You're so damn hard to please, we gotta kill this switch. I am from the 70's," _Derek's attention went straight to Pet, continuing to sing, "_and you're a crazy bitch!_" He brought his eyes back to the road, finishing up with "_Say fuck it!"_ As though not concerned with the hybrid's opinion, his bashing out the beat to the song on the steering wheel resumed. Oh boy, Billy thought. This was going to be the part where she was going to lash out, but she didn't. Instead, she shifted in the passenger seat to better observe the bounty hunter in his rocking out, a semi smile of amusement at the corner of her lips. Billy was at a loss of what to think or say at this reaction and brought his gaze back to Derek. The driver met the back seat passenger's eyes in the rear view mirror as he sang out with the song, "I don't care, Say fuck it" again. Once again, Derek's favorite lyrics came back around. He looked back to the woman to sing, "_I am from the 70's, and you're a crazy bitch"_ to her, this time shrugging apologetically when the beat slowed for a very brief moment before picking back up.

Nica snorted a laugh. "Asshole."

"_I don't care! Say fuck it! I don't care"_ Derek bellowed out.

Billy chuckled and shook his head to himself, looking back outside. The town wasn't too far ahead as he could see the water tower peek over a nearby hill. When the song was over, Derek heaved a satisfied breath out loud. He pointed to the Jeep's CD player, stating, "Now that, Pet, is how the song _should've_ been all along."

She sneered at the man. "Why do you proceed to torture me like this?"

"Because," he started, turning down the volume, "If I'm having to drive you and Romeo on your little date, I get to listen to whatever I want. Besides, driver's prerogative."

"Oh stuff it" Pet stated, pushing him in the arm.

He wiggled his brows at the hybrid. "How about I stuff you instead?" The smile Billy had been wearing was quickly replaced by a sour glare at the driver.


	105. Pet's Mall Trip

**I couldn't help myself... after doing some research on timing of a certain movie that would've been out about the time Pet would be at the dig site, I just had to. Its one of my favorite little story hobbies I've been known to do once in a while...and I can see me doing it again in the next chapter. *giggles***

* * *

**105 - Pet's Mall Trip**

Parking spot after spot was taken at the city's mall. At one point, Derek thought he had found a decent spot until another vehicle pulled in from the other side and straight into the spot in front of it. In a tangent of profane words, Derek drove around to the other side to snag the empty spot there, but it had already been taken by a truck coming from the opposite end of the parking aisle. More profane words. Up ahead, roughly 4 cars away were reverse lights. He saw them and waited, blinker flickering to show his intentions. It was between him and a Lincoln on who would grab the spot after its availability. Thankfully, because of the way the vehicle was backing up, Derek was able to slide in behind it, leaving the Lincoln to search for another spot.

Inside, the place was as packed as the parking lot. Walking around inside seemed more like an invasion of privacy, what with people walking so close to each other. This made Pet extremely uncomfortable and she subconsciously clung to Billy's arm, given his proximity to her, before immediately realizing it. Derek followed behind them some feet back, grumbling to himself in dissatisfaction. And here he was, hoping the hybrid would be all over Grant at this point. With the way she had been talking about him and from what he had been hearing from his uncle, he was _certain_ things would've gone another way.

The three walked around, Pet poking through different shops of a sort, offering cute styled clothing in an assortment of colors. She frowned, however, in realization. "Something wrong" Billy questioned.

Pet's smile sunk lower. "Yeah, I just thought about it...I don't have any money."

Derek side stepped closer to the two and opened his wallet to hand her three hundred dollars. "Don't spend it all at once."

The woman gaped at the money being handed to her. "What? I can't take this from you! No telling what sort of fucked up I.O.U. you'd try to pull off on me!"

"Its not from me" Derek retorted. "Its from Uncle Rob."

Hearing that at least made Pet relax a little in accepting it. "Where did he get this? He hasn't been working since Jur...uh... the park." Her blue green eyes momentarily shot over to Billy, forgetting he was there for a split moment.

Not like the junior scientist didn't already know. Derek continued. "Heh, yeah well that $12.6 mil settlement on InGen says otherwise."

The people standing opposite of the bounty hunter were taken by surprise. "Okay" Pet stated. "Sounds good to me."

Happily humming to a song playing over the store's sound system, the chipper woman started going from clothes rack to clothes rack, rummaging around and occasionally holding up a shirt to look at. Derek whispered into her ear, loud enough for only her to hear, "Make sure you find something you can wear out in public without the jacket on. And be careful that you don't give yourself away to Romeo, here. I'm trying to keep the amount of people that know about you down to an extreme minimum, okay?"

The young woman gave him a side ways glare and a faint snort. Across the clothes rack was Billy, studying the two whispering people intently. After a couple moments, the woman stepped away from her chaperone to continue shopping. Thirty minutes and $135 later, Pet was done shopping in one store and on her way to another, bag hanging from one arm while another was wrapped around Billy's. Just the sight of boiled under Derek's skin. It wasn't supposed to be this way! Had Grant been there at that moment, Derek would've been having a serious sit down and talk to with the man.

In an excited squeal, Pet bolted into another store; this time a young person's jewelry store. New pierced ears and $50 following, the hybrid was content and proceeding onwards. The smells of food flooded the hybrid senses and she tracked down the source of to find the mall's food court. An assortment of food selections was available from pizza, Chinese, Mexican, a walk through offering different flavored chicken wings, a place specializing in corn dogs and finally sandwich place.

Derek made a beeline for the sandwiches while Pet almost fell over herself when going for the wing's line. Billy settled on a pizza and the three happily sat, munching on a late lunch. Not far from the food court was a movie theater, Pet studying the display signs for what was being shown. One seemed to strike her in particular. The poster displayed a long looking space ship with a planet looming in the back ground.

The hybrid absent mindedly started tapping on Derek's shoulder from across the table. "Hey...hey Derek, can we go see that?"

He followed her finger pointing to the movie theater. "Depends. Are you going to drag us to see a chick flick? Because if so, _hell no!_"

The woman slapped him on the shoulder. "No, shit wad, I was looking at seeing that spacey looking movie. See it? The one with the space ship on the front?"

"Ah yeah..." Derek shrugged, taking another hefty bite of his sandwich. "I suppose."

Billy made sure to swallow his bite before speaking, unlike the other man present at the table. "I heard some people talking at the dig site about it. They said its sort of weird and twisted. Something about space travel gone wrong and a black hole... everything basically going straight to hell...literally."

Pet's eyes were wide as saucers. "Oh I have to see it now."

Derek scoffed. "Hopefully its better than that damn dinosaur movie that came out earlier this year. Forgot the name of it...Not like it really matters, anyway. Every since Jurassic Park and the San Diego incident, everything's been buzzing with dinosaurs." He took another bite of his sandwich, wiping away a trail of mustard running down his chin. "I wouldn't be surprised if Hollywood ended up trying to revise that old TV show I grew up watching called Land of the Lost."

Billy smiled widely. "I remember that show! I used to love that show! I had the little play set and everything. It's what got me interested in dinosaurs."

Pet watched the two young men giggle over certain moments of the series and resumed finishing off her wings. While Billy finished his pizza, Derek went to the theater to check on show times for the movie of interest. He checked his watch, it being 4:20 PM. The next showing was at 5:15. "Perfect" he said and went back to the group.

Throughout the movie, Pet hardly blinked. Derek sat behind the two dating couple and giggled at one part of the movie. He'd have to remember that line as it seemed way too easy to bait the hybrid with it. Instead of black, though, he'd have to find a way to reword it for his favor. Blue green eyes stayed locked on the movie screen, her forgetting about the M&amp;Ms she had gotten at the concession stand.

After the movie, the three strode out with Pet in giggles. "Man, that lead scientist guy was _hot!_" A vicious smile upturned her features, there being a scheming glint in her eye. "The things I'd like to do to him! What was the name of that movie, again? I want it when it comes out on sale..."

Derek shrugged. "Something, something Horizon? I don't know, I wasn't paying attention. It lost me about midway through the movie..."

* * *

**Yup. I just had to. I regret nothing.**


	106. Pretty Has A Price

**106 - Pretty Has A Price**

Pet's mind was still wrapped around the movie she had just seen and wearing a devious smile she hadn't faltered one bit. Derek was hoping that in the time they had been in the movie, the crowd at the mall would lessen, but it hadn't. In exchange for the older crowd from earlier, a much younger population seemed to fill the stores. Teenagers giggled, squealed and chatted amongst themselves as the three people wove between them.

Derek wasn't paying attention, either, and walked into Pet who had suddenly stopped in the middle of the way. "What the hey, hey Pet?" He looked at the woman, jaw agape and unblinking eyes fixated on a nice evening attire store across from where they were standing.

The hybrid bounded through the people passing by to stop inches shy of crashing into the front glass of the store. There, displayed in the window was a beautiful, halter styled, rust colored evening gown with an explosion of like colored, tiny beadwork on the front. Derek jogged up to join the woman, baffled. He took one look at the dress and to the woman, instantly knowing it to be love at first site.

He chuckled. "Really?"

Billy joined the two as well, but was more mindful in the people he was passing by excusing himself. Pet smiled. "Isn't it pretty?"

Derek shoved his hands into his pant's pockets. "Yeah and for a _pretty_ big ass price, too, I'm sure."

Pet went into the store and retrieved a slew of disapproving stares from both store shoppers and employees. Her eyes fervently scanned the many dresses lining the walls and hanging on their respective racks until she found the one she was looking for. There were 5 available and she started going through the ones for the right size. She frowned.

"Damn" she grumbled. "Out of luck." Billy flipped over one of the dress's tags to see the price and flashed it to the woman for her to see as well. "Holy shi-" She grimaced. "$_285_?!"

Derek shrugged. "And out of money, too, it seems." He pointed to her shopping bags around her arm. "Unless you take all that stuff back for a refund."

Pet looked at the bags and back the dress. "As much as I would love the dress, I can't think of anywhere to where it. At least with these" she held up the bags, "I could to everyday places."

"Sucks to be you" Derek smarted off, patting her on the shoulder. "Well, we need to get back to the dig site. Come on, kids. Your Daddies will be wanting you guys back by curfew!"

* * *

The sun had already set by the time the three had arrived back to the excavation. Derek hadn't yet put the Jeep into park when Pet got out, head hung a bit low in sadness. She was bummed she couldn't get the dress and the other new clothes too, but was still happy about one thing; she had at least been trusted enough to leave the dig site.

She and the two men went into the trailer to find Muldoon and Grant seated at the dining table, talking. Pet set her bags down on the kitchenette bar and looked to the two older men in confusion. Muldoon noticed the bags and cocked a half smile. "I guess you had a good time?"

The hybrid smiled. "Yeah. Thanks by the way." She bit her lips together in a shy smile. "For the money, that is."

The man's smile broadened and he nodded. "What else did you three end up doing?"

Derek entered the trailer, snickering. "Did some shopping...ate some lunch... grabbed a movie."

"Oh?" He looked to Pet, thoughts going through his head. He knew what young people were prone to doing in movies and only hoped his assumptions of the two's actions were wrong. That was what Derek was there for, anyway. "What movie did you see?"

Another smile painted across Pet's face. "That new space movie."

"How was it?"

Derek nudged the hybrid in the side. "I think she liked it."

Pet giggled. "I'd so wreck that lead scientist." She then reached into the fridge, cracking open a beer.

Grant's eyes flickered in a flash of momentary panic. Something told him, he didn't want to know. His gaze settled on the hybrid watching him over the top of her drinking her beer and recoiled a bit. Yeah, he definitely didn't want to know what was on her mind.


	107. Burning the Late Night Oil

**107 - Burning the Late Night Oil**

Back to work. Monday came much too soon, meaning everyone was back to doing their thing at the sig site. Ellie was finishing her packing and loading up her SUV. She was needed back at the museum upon request and was trying to be quick about leaving.

Pet was standing nearby, as were Grant, Billy and Derek. The paleobontanist gave her best friend a hug in departure and a sympathetic, pressed out smile in regards to his skepticism of being left with the hybrid. Regardless of her and Billy being a sort of somewhat item, the Dr. still didn't feel completely at ease.

After Ellie's departure, Derek frowned in watching the dust cloud following the SUV disappear. "Well there goes the eye candy" he blurted, frowning and planting his hands on his hips.

Grant squared a hateful glare at the bounty hunter and left, running through different things needing to be done. Without Ellie there to help, there would be a lot more work to do and read outs to review. After all the training he had been given Billy, he could only hope his protégé would start helping out.

By Thursday, work was in fact starting to pile up making Grant further stressed. Billy felt the pressure of everything as well while trying to aide in directing the volunteer workers. Another load of fossils was prepared and situated inside a tent, ready for pick up when the museum's team came around for collection.

Pet desperately wanted to help, but wasn't sure how. After two weeks, things were starting to balance out. Who knew Derek was so good with computers and able to pick up where Ellie had left off? Grant couldn't be more thankful and found a new appreciation for the younger man.

Saturday came around and before sunrise, Grant was up and working in the office trailer. He hadn't slept any that night as the coffee pot went off for a fourth time. He was so wound up in his work that he didn't notice the trailer office door open.

Quietly Pet stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Off and on since laying down, she had woken up randomly and would poke a peep between her room's blinds to see the office's light still on. It was now 5 AM and the light hadn't gone off yet. Curious, she decided to see what was going on. That's when she found him sitting over piles of papers she wasn't even going to begin was what. Pet could see the paleontologist's head buried in his hands and tip toed over to the table he was sitting at.

She gently rested a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. His head snapped up and his eyes drift upwards to meet the hybrid's warm smile. Pet eased in next to the man and gave him a friendly nudge in the shoulder. "How are you holding up?"

He sighed, waving a hand over the papers. "Just trying to finish all this up."

"It's 5 AM, Alan. You need to sleep."

"Yeah" he breathed out, tossing the pen he had been holding into the scattered papers. "That's just it, though. I've been procrastinating and now, this is has happened."

Pet slimmed her eyes at the papers. "I wouldn't call being over loaded with work procrastinating. But that's just me." She watched the troubled man lean back and stretch out, his joints echoing his exhaustion. "Go to bed. I'm sure whatever this is can wait another day or at least until you wake up."

"No, not really." The people locked gazes and for a moment, the man felt himself lost in the brilliant blue green eyes of the hybrid. "Before I can proceed onto the other part of the dig site, I have to get clarification from the state of Montana."

Pet was over taken in curiosity. "Other part? What other part?"

A boyish smile teased Grant's weary, stress worn face. "You know that northern section of the dig site I've been trying to keep blocked off?" The hybrid nodded. "There's another skeleton, there. We accidently came across it when getting a radar of the current dig site. Because there wasn't enough funding at the time, I couldn't begin work on it and still can't unless something gives."

"I see." The woman scanned the many papers strewn across the table top. "And I'm guessing this is...?"

"Read outs of the calculated area." Grant picked up a handful of papers and started flipping through them. "This, here." He handed the hybrid a black and white print out of the mentioned region. "Now, the radar was taken somewhere over here." He pointed to the far lower left corner of the paper. "Because of the radar's radius, it was only able to grab this little section here." He then pointed to a blurry image located close to the center of the printed image. Pet squinted at the image, barely able to make out what looked like a tail tip. "I'm hoping after the latest completed fossil is presented to Montana's Natural History Museum, the generosity will start flowing."

Pet shrugged and studied the seemingly excited man from the corner of her eyes. "Its possible." As the scientist remained focused on the print out, she could see all his hope in his cool blue eyes. "If not, I think I can call in a few favors." Grant forced his eyes off the page to look up at the woman, the people's faces just inches apart. "Just keep me posted, okay?" She smiled, nervously looking away from the man. He was so close. She could smell his natural scent and it was over whelming. "Until then, you need to get some rest."

Pet began to get up but was stopped by the man grabbing her hand. His lightly pulling at her hand signaled her to sit back down, which she did confused. "Veronica," he began. "Thank you."

She nodded in acceptance and smiled, kissing him on the cheek. "Anytime."

The urge to kiss her was over whelming. Had it not been for her current dating status, he would have. "Damn it, Billy" he sighed to himself.

Pet was taken off by the random comment and blinked at the man. "What?" She felt herself be nudged out of the booth like seat so Grant could get out.

He had to put some distance between them. "I think Billy used all the sugar, yesterday morning..." He went to the coffee pot and began making a cup with a shaky hand. Pet knew better and crossed her arms over her chest, smirking.


	108. An Ulterior Motive

**108 - An Ulterior Motive**

Chocolate brown eyes studied the busy Dr Grant ping ponging between tents and the office trailer. He had never seen this guy this wound up since arriving at the dig site. Patiently, Derek waited for the right opportunity before approaching the man. Finally, he had the scientist cornered in the tent used to keep fossils still needing to be properly cleaned prior to plastering for transportation.

"So, uh, what's up Doc?" The bounty hunter smiled in self satisfaction to the scientist. "I'm sorry, its just I've always wanted to say that."

Grant grumbled and resumed sorting through the cleaner of fossils, placing smaller fist sized ones in a plastic bin. "Take these to Veronica, will you, and make sure they get cleaned?"

Derek had no choice but to accept the pin more shoved into his chest than passed over. "Sure. Speaking of Veronica, how's things been going between you two?"

The Dr picked up a fossilized tooth and sat it down in the bin following him around. "Does it matter?"

The younger man shrugged. "Was just wondering, is all. You know, things between her and Billy have been bouncing around. One day he seems interested and the next, not so much."

"What do I care?" Grant went around to the other side of the table to examine what was marked by one of the volunteers as clean fossils.

"Although, I think that's partially because of Uncle Rob. I think he's doing everything in his power to chase off your little side kick." The two men exchanged glances, the senior scientist sighing. "Which is probably for the best they don't work out. Pet's been trying hard to keep her Ts crossed and Is dotted around him. I don't think she was quiet ready to be exposed around people, never mind a relationship with someone who has _no damn clue_ about what she is."

Grant couldn't take it anymore. "I know what you're doing and its not going to work."

Derek picked up the tooth the older man had just been looking at and was a bit intimidated by its size. When realizing he was being interrogated in a nonchalant way, he dropped the tooth to stare at the scientist. "Hmm? What?" The boring glare from the excavation leader let the bounty hunter know he was fooling no one. "You know, that fossil presentation is coming up and Pet is _pretty_ excited about it." The Dr arched a brow in question. "There's also a really pretty dress she's had her eyes on in a store at the mall."

A sharp scoff came from the older man as he fingered through the supposedly clean fossils. This was clean? Though some of them were in fact decent enough for plastering, some of them were no were near ready. He began to pick out the ones he approved of while leaving the others in the plastic box.

Derek continued. "I promise you, if you get her that dress you'll have her wrapped around your little finger." His smile twisted into something darker and more adult. "Or maybe around something else."

"_Get out_" Grant yelled, sending Derek snickering and scampering out of the tent. The scientist was about to resume his work, but was interrupted by Derek again.

"In case you're wondering, its a rusty brown color with a lot of sparkly beads on the front." An acidic blue eyed stare from the Dr sent the younger man back dodging for cover. "34C, 30, 35. That's her measurements. Don't ask me how I know..." Derek winked.

_"OUT!_" Derek was right, Grant didn't want to know how he knew those measurements. Just the thought of stirred a jealous streak in the man and before he knew it, was death gripping a fossil.

Three-o-clock rolled around, Grant pacing around the trailer. He needed more paper. Yeah, that was it. He needed more paper. And milk. And sugar. The man went over to a stack of sticky notes sitting next to a computer and grabbed a pen to make note of everything he'd need while in town. The drive was already a pain so any trip had to be made worth while.

He stood there, hunched over the table with the ball point of the pen resting on the note page. He couldn't think. What was he going to write again? The office door opened, the voice of the hybrid calling out, "Hey Alan, I-" but the man's jumping at being startled and yelping sent her backwards in her own fright. Had it not been for Derek behind her, catching her, she would've fallen down the trailer's stairs. The two people looked to the other in calming themselves. "Jumpy?"

"Yes, no." He cleared his throat. "What is it, Nica?"

Derek almost giggled out loud at the two people's new way of addressing the other. The hybrid proceeded into the trailer with the plastic bin in her hands. "I was bringing back the cleaned fossils."

She sat the fossils on the kitchen cabinet as Derek strode in behind her. Since her back was turned, she didn't see the thumb's up the younger man gave to the older. Derek joined Grant by the table and smiled, patting him on the shoulder. Meanwhile, inadvertently being ignored was Pet explaining how some of the fossils might need a professional's set of eyes given how they were harder to clean than some.

Derek tossed a look at the note and lit up in surprise when reading the measurements he mentioned earlier being written down. Before Pet could find it, he ripped off the note and shoved it in Grant's hand. The scientist looked at the bounty hunter in confusion and looked to the note to see what was on it. Huh? At first he thought the other had written them down until closer examination showed it to be his own hand writing. When did he write that? Blue eyes met chocolate ones, Derek smiling crazily and nodding.

"For crying out loud" Grant huffed.

Pet stopped in her ramblings to focus on the man. "What?"

"Nothing" he grumbled and stormed over to the bin, lightly pushing past the hybrid in the process. "I'll take a look at these, later. Right now, I have to make a trip into town for some stuff."


	109. Disheartening News

**I wanted to make chapter 109 something special, seeing how its one of my favorite numbers. I've been trying to stretch out what content I could JUST for this particular chapter...for it to be something special.**

* * *

**109 - Disheartening News**

Another week had passed by. Everyone was sleeping soundly in their bunks, until an obnoxious ringing of a phone shattered the silence. Even with the back bunk room's door and Pet's room's door closed, she could still hear the ringing. She grumbled and buried her head under a pillow to muffle the sound. Wait, what time was it? And why was someone calling? Every since arriving to the dig site, they had never received a call. They were always the ones calling. Pet sat up and looked over at her alarm clock, its red digital letters flashing 1:09 AM. Concerned something wasn't right, she slid out of bed and quietly opened her bedroom door to listen to what was being said.

Muldoon's heart sunk in his chest as a sickening feeling of overwhelming sadness washed over him. He had barely made out what the person on the other end of the line was saying through the masses of sobs and hung his head in regret. "Thank you, Lexi" he stated, hanging up the phone.

Derek, who too had been woken by phone ringing, propped himself up to better study his uncle in the dim light peeking in through the blinds of the back room. "What is it?"

"That was Hammond's granddaughter, Lexi." The next words were going to be hard for Muldoon to say and he sat up, wiping at his face. "John's passed away."

The words slammed into Pet and she gasped out a breath stealing surge of sadness. She brought a hand to her face and stiffened back a sob in repeating Muldoon's last words in her head. Before she knew it, she was running through the camp and towards Grant's trailer. She didn't care she was wearing a sport's bra and shorts and nor did she care she was barefoot. Nothing mattered at that moment.

Zealous banging on the trailer door shook Grant from his sleep and he jumped up to quickly see who it was. Was another trailer on fire? Damn drunks and their smoking inside the trailers! He pushed open the door to see a teary eyed hybrid stare at him. Other than his first noticing her obviously upset, he saw she was barefoot and dressed only in what she slept in. Before she could draw unwanted attention to herself, he brought her inside and instantly guided her to his bed room. The last he wanted was anyone, even his protégé, walking in and seeing her so exposed.

He closed the room's door and turned around to see what was wrong. He didn't have time to get out a word as the hybrid collided into him. "He's _gone_" she moaned into his ear, body trembling with sobs.

"What? What are you talking about? Who's gone? What's happened?" Grant held her back a bit to look her in the eye.

"Dad! He's gone!"

Never had she ever verbally addressed the man known as John Hammond as dad. Understanding of the situation settled on the man's shoulders and he nodded in regret, embracing the distraught hybrid. Her loud knocking on the trailer's door hadn't woken up Billy, but her heavy cries did. He got up and followed the sounds to his mentor's closed door.

He knocked on the door, baffled and worried. "Alan? _Veronica?_ Is something wrong?"

"Not now Billy" Grant snapped out.

The protégé was backing away from the door when the trailer's front door was jerked open by Derek. "Where is she" he questioned. As if he really needed to ask that. Pet's crying couldn't be missed.

Not but a moment later, Muldoon came into the trailer and shut the door behind him. Billy was genuinely panicked. "What's going, guys? Why is she crying?" He aimed his attention at Derek. "Did you do something to her?"

"Her dad just died, asshole" Derek spat.

Muldoon interfered. "Knock it off, you two. Now isn't the time."

Inside the small trailer room, Grant tried to calm down the torn up woman the best he could. He held her against his chest, arm wrapped around her shoulders while the other held one of her hands. He wanted to tell her it would be alright, that her father was in a better place now but couldn't. His own tears started to form in his eyes and sniffed back his own sadness. All he could do was hold her in comfort.

Minutes passed by into an hour, the hybrid finally calmed down. She was still pained with sadness as her eyes streamed an occasional tear. She sniffed and wiped at her nose, speaking. "It was only a matter of time, really. He'd been in such bad health the past little while that...it was only down to borrowed time."

Grant gently kissed the woman on the head and tenderly combed through her long locks draped over a shoulder. "At least you got to see him one last time. I hope things were on a good note?" She nodded. "I'm sorry, Veronica."

She sat up and continued wiping at her eyes. Sitting next to the bed was a box of tissues and she reached for one, blowing her nose. Afterwards, she tossed the tissue into the small trash can nestled between the bed and nightstand. "I was hoping to see him one more time before he passed." She grabbed another tissue and wiped at her eyes. Grant's callous fingers brushed away a strand of hair clung to her cheek and she bit out a smile, sniffing again. "I wanted to tell him I was sorry."

The man's face wrinkled in question. "Sorry? For what?"

"For not being who and what he wanted me to be." She began crying again, this time in guilt she could never rectify.

"Oh, no, Nica don't think that." He drew her in for another embrace. "He was proud of you. The last time I saw him, all he could talk about were your accomplishments and every thing you had done...How proud he was of you." He lifted her head to stare into her eyes the best he could in the dark. "He loved you, Veronica, and regretted not being able to brag about you to the world. About how you battled a T-Rex, wrestled raptors and chased other dinosaurs for tagging and capture. You were more than he ever could've imagined."

His smiling made the hybrid smile. "I just wish I could've seen him one more time and tell him that I loved him, too."

"Well" Grant stated behind his own teary eyes. "He knows, now." The two stayed embraced in the other until morning, the hybrid finally crying herself to sleep. Even Grant had let himself fall asleep as neither heard Muldoon lightly knocking on the door. At first he was skeptical and knew better than to, but opened the door anyway. There, laying curled up next to the other were the scientist and hybrid sound asleep. He nodded and just as quietly closed the door.

Later that day, Muldoon flew out to go to Hammond's funeral. He was leaving Derek in charge of making sure Pet would be alright, but knew it wouldn't be a problem.

The funeral its self was emotional and heart wrenching. So many people had shown up in support. He had recognized almost all of the family, past co-workers and previous InGen employees present from both the island park and Kenya. Amongst the present faces was Terrence Mitchell, both men only shaking hands in acknowledgement of the other without a word spoken between them.

Following the funeral, close friends and family were allowed to the house for a small gathering. While there, Lexi approached him with Hammond's prized cane in one hand and an envelope in another. She tried to smile, but her grief swollen eyes couldn't mask how she really felt. "Here" she stated, handing the man the cane and envelope. "Grandpa stated in his will this was to go 'in your direction'. His words." Muldoon accepted them with a heavy heart and just as heavy hands. "I recommend waiting before opening the envelope."

He got the point and gave the now young woman a supporting hug. Not wanting to stick around anymore, Muldoon calmly left the mansion's premises.

Pet had refused to leave her trailer since her guardian had left. She sat on the couch, slouched forward and empty of all words. For the past few morning, Derek had tried to get her to eat by cooking her favorite meals. She would pick at the food, taking a bite here and there but never really finishing it. She didn't even finish the mostly raw steak he had specially made.

Evening was settling in as a familiar Jeep's engine pulled up to Quarantine. The driver's side door opened and closed, followed by Muldoon entering the trailer. His arrival wasn't only noticed by the trailer's occupants, but by Grant as well. He rushed to join the other man, taking hold of the door before the other could close it all the way.

He saw the signature white cane in the other's hand and frowned with a stabbing of sadness. Pet saw it and instantly broke down in tears. She accepted it none the less as well as the envelope. Muldoon spoke while taking a seat next to the hybrid. "John wanted you to have that. He even wrote you something I think you should read."

Pet flipped open the envelope's tab and withdrew a single page note written down on a marble themed piece of stationary paper. She read the note to herself and in doing so, began to cry more. She couldn't take it anymore and folded up the note after ready three-fourths of it. The woman took a couple minutes to compose herself and spoke. "Who would've known" she said in a sniff. "I often wondered why he chose this particular mosquito in amber as a cane topper."

Derek, leaning against the kitchenette bar, questioned. "Why's that?"

"Because..." Pet smiled behind the waterfall of tears glistening on her cheeks. "Its this little bastard right there..." She pointed at the tiny insect trapped in the golden yellow of the amber. "That had the raptor DNA used to help create me."

Muldoon nodded. "He kept it with him every where he went so no matter where he was or what he was doing, he'd always have a part of you with him." The hybrid broke down in another spasm of sobs, cradling the cane next to her.

R.I.P

Richard Attenborough

August 29, 1923-August 24, 2014


	110. Done Goofed

**110 - Done Goofed**

The weekend came and went without Pet leaving her trailer. She had no reason or desire to since Hammond's passing. Billy stopped by at one point to relay his condolences, but didn't stick around long afterwards when Grant showed up. Billy had gotten the hint and given his boss and the woman already having some sort of history, figured it best to go his own way.

The Dr. sat down on the couch where the woman was laying and smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"Like crap" she mumbled from behind the down comforter she was cocooned in.

"Well" Grant sighed out, "I have good news." The woman arching a brow in question urged the man to continue. "Next weekend is the fossil display presentation at the museum. Everyone from the excavation is invited courtesy of the museum."

The woman's eyes lit up in excitement only to falter in their brief sparkle. "But, I didn't do anything as far as contribution goes to deserve attending something like that."

"Maybe not _directly_, but you could always come on behalf of Hammond, seeing how it was his occasional contributions that helped get the fossils out of the ground." The two people looked to the other and she smiled.

Pet sat up to be better eye level with the man and continued. "I suppose. What should I wear to something like that?"

Grant shrugged, looking away from the woman and to the floor. "Your best dress, probably."

"I don't have a best dress, Alan. I've never even owned a dress a day in my entire life. Really no need to, given how I was either chasing and tagging animals in Kenya since 13 to doing the same thing at the park after that. Then of course, there's always-"

"I get it" he politely cut in, patting her on her knee bent upwards to her chest. "We'll think of something."

She smiled and looked to her clawed feet poking out from under the blanket and frowned. What would she do for evening shoes? None could possibly be styled to suit her feet. Grant could see her sadness and brought a hand under her jaw to upturn her eyes onto his. They sat there for what felt like an eternity before the distance between started to close.

In through the front door Derek barged, hot and sweaty and covered in head to toe in dust from working at the dig site. Splotches of plaster dotted his dark grey shirt and worn out blue jeans. He stopped dead in mid step when realizing what he had just inadvertently done. "I done goofed" he stated, backing out of Quarantine's door and nervously closing it in his wake.

But the damage had been done and the moment that could've been was shattered. A sudden spike of anger stabbed through the hybrid, her nostrils flaring and blue green eyes shifting to a raptors. Grant was now back in reality and awkwardly stood up, clearing his throat. "I should get back to the dig. I left Billy in charge and who knows what damage he's done in my absence."

The hybrid was too overcome with anger at Derek to even bother trying to fix what had been broken. The paleontologist left the trailer, ignoring the embarrassed younger man hunched over the patio table, and went to the canopy hung over the dig site. Should he even dare go inside? Derek felt not and went to go find his uncle, wherever he was.

* * *

Wednesday had arrived and with it, what Derek was trying to make as a weekly thing of a poker night between the growing group of friends at the dig site. Luckily he was able to get Pet to join in, seeing how he had sort of amended what he had accidently intruded on a couple days previously. In his defense, he had no idea the senior paleontologist was visiting the hybrid or else he'd have stayed away.

He leaned back in his chair and stretched, watching Grant shuffle the cards for a new game. His gaze then drifted over to the hybrid seated across the table and wickedly smiled. "So Pet, want to play Truth, Bets or Dares?"

Her attention peeled away from the paleontologist and over to the bounty hunter. She could tell something was on his mind and she slimmed her blue-green eyes down on him. "Truth; you over compensate the badass attitude because your dick is the size of a tic-tak."

Billy snickered behind a swig of his beer. Derek cocked a brow as the smile smeared further across his face. "I dare you to come over here and find out." He leaned further back in his chair as though inviting the woman to take him up on his offer.

She shook her head and lightly laughed in disbelief. Grant sighed at the two people's continuous jabs at the other and cracked open another beer. Muldoon cut in. "Alright you two, knock it off."

But Derek ignored his uncle and leaned onto the table, locking gazes with Nica. "You're thinking about it, aren't you?"

The hybrid let out a laugh and shook her head. "No, I have other things to think about than what you're packing."

"Not that. Truth; you're thinking about the hat with nothing else on."

"_What?_" Her eyes widened in horror and instantly shot them over to Grant before settling them on Derek. She growled, "You're so dead."

Derek erupted in laughter and almost knocked over his beer when dodging a clawed hand swiping at his face from across the round, fold out table. "C'mon, Pet! I dare you to kick my ass!" She frustratingly snorted a bark and clawed at the table.

Billy saw this and noticed on more than one occasion how she seemed to mimic an animal's attacks and even sounds. He had already come to the conclusion just from hearing conversations around him that she had worked as a game warden in Kenya as well as a warden on Jurassic Park. Perhaps she had spent a little too much time in the field working with the animals...

Muldoon had his face buried in his hand and shook his head. The horrified expressions on the hybrid and on Grant made it hard for Derek to refrain from laughing. "Aren't you going to attempt to mangle me? Disembowel me? Something? At least hit me, sheesh!"

The fluster faced hybrid snorted again and slouched down in her chair, arms crossed over her chest. "Go fuck yourself."

The bounty hunter frowned and shook his head, disappointed. "Cock tease."

Suddenly feeling awkward, the paleontologist slid off his hat and rested it on a knee, under the table. He nervously cleared his throat and started dividing the cards up, feeling the heat of his own fluster intensify. Why hadn't he already kicked this little shit out of his dig site? He was rude, vulgar, profane and obscene. But, none the less, despite his constant antagonizing the hybrid, he was a dedicated hard worker who got along with just about everyone and was a great help overall. Grant would have to have a talk with the young man's uncle later about his nephew's attitude and knowing when to _shut up_.


	111. The Dress

**111 - The Dress**

Wednesday evening came and went. Thursday came and went. Now it was Friday and Pet down to the wire on coming up with something nice to wear to the museum's fossil exhibit presentation. Ellie had arrived to the dig site later that afternoon with a sky blue dress in her hands, making Pet that much more anxious to get to town. Every time she attempted to go in hopes of picking up something nice she would be stopped. It was usually Derek holding her up and deliberately getting her involved in something she couldn't break away from. Saturday morning had now arrived and with it, the hybrid a ranting mess. She was so over worked in a tangent at the bounty hunter cooking breakfast that she didn't notice the rectangular, white box sitting on the dining table.

Muldoon had noticed it, however, seeing how it was in his way in trying to read the morning paper. He stared at it in annoyance and abruptly interrupted the nagging hybrid. "Will you shut the bloody hell up and get this thing out of my way!"

Pet stopped in her pacing to stare bewilderingly at her guardian. That's when she noticed the box and closed her mouth at seeing it. She went over to it to see a tag in a pretty script font read _Veronica_ on the front. She slid the box to her and opened the lid, her jaw falling open in amazement.

She tried to talk, but only stammers formed instead of coherent words. Ever so carefully she took the rust brown colored dress out of the box and held it up. Also in the box was a matching shawl made with a see through, rust colored material. Along the edges of the shawl was beadwork matching the dress's. Her eyes started to pool with tears as a sparkle lit up her face neither of the two men had ever seen before. "Its the dress from the mall!"

"Mhm" Derek beamed, flipping over the omelets in the skillet.

The woman refused to look away from the beadwork reflecting the morning sun. "Did you get this?" Derek shook his head. "Rob?"

"Don't look at me" the man stated, finally able to lay out the news paper to read it.

"The only other person there when I saw it was Billy and I doubt he would have the money to pay for something like this!" She disappeared into bedroom, stating, "I'm trying this baby on!"

* * *

"No, no and absolutely _hell no_ am I coming out of this bathroom" Pet ranted from within her trailer's bathroom. Standing just beyond its open door was Ellie, dressed in a floor length, elegant sky blue dress dotted with tiny silver rhinestones. Her equally blue eyes looked to the wall clock to see it was 5:30 PM. The event started at 7. "Make that, out of this trailer" Pet continued.

Ellie tried to smile reassuringly as she stood, watching the frantic hybrid pace the tiny bathroom's floor. "You look fine, Veronica. I don't know what you're so worked up over."

"_Are you kidding me?_" She hysterically questioned. "Look at me! _Look at what I'm wearing!"_ The mixed sound of a whimper and raptor like snort came from the bathroom, causing the paleobotanist to giggle. "I'm wearing a dress! _A dress!_ I've never worn a dress before!"

Quickly, Ellie tried to hide the small snicker behind her hand, but it didn't work. A knock at the trailer door got her attention, her calling out. "It's open!"

Derek opened the door and poked his head inside. "It might be open, but is it safe to come in?"

"Yes, its safe to come in" she giggled again. Had her foot not purposely been in the way, the troubled hybrid would've shut the bathroom door and possibly had locked it, too.

Pet called out. "Get out!"

Derek, wearing a nice smoky grey suit, entered the trailer and with him, Billy wearing a black suit. Both men took a good look at the scientist, both surprised. "Wow, Dr Sattler, you look nice." Billy nodded his head in agreement.

The hybrid called from the bathroom again. "What the hell are you doing in here?"

Guessing she was referring to him, the bounty hunter answered. "Dr Grant sent me in here to see what the hold up is."

A grumble came in response, "I'm molting."

Ellie's eyes widened as she politely spoke. "You mean peeling from your sunburn?"

The hybrid went motionless and met the wincing expression of her close friend. "Who else is in here?"

Billy spoke up. "Just me."

"And me" came Grant's response as he, too, entered the trailer wearing a dark grey suit and matching tie. He hated dressing up as it felt unnatural. "What's the hold up? We need to leave in the next 5 minutes if we're going to get there on time." He studied the two men in the trailer and to the worrisome looking Ellie. "Well?"

Ellie answered. "Veronica has had a change of mind. She's…not going."

The hybrid spoke up. "Hell no. Not looking like this! I look like an idiot!"

Derek blurted, "Oh, I've got to see this!"

Grant, sounding more irritated, continued. "Get your ass out of that damn bathroom! I spent $280 on that dress and you are _not_ going to change your mind!" Ellie and Billy's attention suddenly snapped to the older man present in the trailer. "Now come on. It's time to go."

Pet, momentarily forgetting how she was dressed, came out of the bathroom to gawk at the scientist is absolute shock. "Wha-You? _You_ bought this dress?!"

Ellie was convinced her best friend had forgotten to breathe in the several moments he stood there, speechless at visually drinking in every detail of the hybrid. The color of the dress compliment her natural skin tone perfectly, not to mention hug to and complimented her every curve. It was as if the dress was made for her. "Uh" Grant stated, unable to think straight.

Billy was flabbergasted and boiling in jealousy. "We should get going before we're late."

He turned on a heel and left, Derek nodding. They left just as the bunk room door opened. Muldoon had no intentions of going to the fancy occasion. They were never really his thing anyway. The further away from them, the better. Every special event Hammond would have in Kenya was a guarantee him not being there. He strode by the still awe struck hybrid and went to the fridge to warm up some left over lunch.

He sat the plate of pasta down on the kitchenette bar and took one look at the young woman. "Well would you look at that..."

Grant was about to say something, but forgot what that was when his words were halted by the woman throwing her self around him, kissing him. He couldn't think. Couldn't act. Wait, what was happening? It took his brain a minute to catch up to the suddenness of it all. The spurt of the moment kiss broke, leaving everyone in the room at a loss for words.

Pet blushed and she quickly ripped away from the man, mentally kicking herself in the ass at what she had just done. "I'm so sorry, I-"

"It's fine" Grant awkwardly choked out. "We should get going..."

"Yeah" Pet agreed, not meeting her guardian's highly amused stare as she left.

Ellie followed the two, wearing an ear to ear smile in giggles, and went for her SUV. She found the hysterical hybrid standing next to it, trembling in an anxiety attack. "You're not riding with Alan?"

"Just open the car" she barked.


	112. Unveiling A Legend

**112 - Unveiling a Legend**

People mingled amongst themselves as excitement was thick in the air as well as their conversing voices. Flashes of woman in lovely evening gowns and men in suits and tuxedos made the event seem more like a formal ball then the unveiling of the Montana Museum on Natural History's latest exhibit. Grant checked his watch and frowned. It was 6:50. He would have to give a speech and he hated public speaking. He saw his protégé talking with one of the site volunteers, Ellie and Pet not far away.

He couldn't stop thinking about that moment in the trailer days prior on top of what had just happened before leaving. As he watched her, he couldn't help but want to reach out and touch her in some way. She was trying to keep herself concealed as her blue-green eyes darted about the room. Subconsciously, he joined her and questioned. "Are you wearing your contacts?"

The hybrid met his gaze. "No why?"

He shook his head. "Just wondering." They seemed brighter than normal as began conversing with Ellie.

Derek slyly joined the forming group and genuinely smiled at the nervous young woman. "You look very nice this evening."

Pet didn't meet his gawking gaze as she wrapped her arms tighter around her chest. "Try not to choke on your words."

He sipped on his cup of fruit punch. "I'm just saying, you clean up well."

Their eyes locked, the hybrid's being more dangerous looking as Derek's reflected sincerity. She noticed this as she started to look around the room once more. "So do you."

Derek laughed as a voice came rang through the speakers set around the crowded room. "Excuse me can I have your attention, please?" Everyone's attention shifted to the front of the room where a large red, satin cover hung suspended from the ceiling, it concealing two objects beneath it. The voice continued. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I am so glad you all could attend this wonderful event tonight here at Montana's own Museum of Natural History."

The room erupted in an applause as Pet kept herself arms around her chest, her noticing Derek occasionally glancing in her direction. She didn't have to look in his direction to see it, her speaking low enough for him to hear. "Take a picture, it'll last longer."

He quietly respond. "I would rather look at the real thing." They met gazes again as Pet shifted uncomfortably in her black, heeled boots. Grant shot a look at the bounty hunter a warning stare, Derek getting the hint.

The announcer continued, Ellie and Grant forgetting not listening to what he was saying. "And with that said, I give you the man who made tonight possible, Dr. Alan Grant."

Again the room erupted into in applause again as the scientist gave Derek one more offended glare before he walked to the front of the room. The announcer stood aside as Grant stood behind the podium and grew anxious with the stares that met his. "Thank you for the wonderful introduction, Mr. Bulmer." He fought about what to say for his speech him having two ideas planned in his head. There was the one that Ellie helped him write then there was the one that Pet wrote, him straightening his posture. "A good friend once told me that great things just don't fall out of the sky but rather involve some working for. I agree." Pet paused in her nervous looking around as she fought behind glazed eyes to keep them from changing into a raptor's. "The past 7 years have been stressful and if it wasn't for the assistance from such great people I wouldn't have been able to complete this alone. I thank everyone who spent countless hours at the excavation site and the generous funding from sponsors for making tonight possible." Again the room erupted in an approving applause as Grant shot a smile towards the back wall where Pet stood. She was so beautiful, standing there against the contrast of the off-white museum wall as he fought to remain focused on his speech. The applauding faded into silence as the room grew with more excitement. "If its one thing I learned from the past 7 years is this; dreams are something everyone has and everyone should be able to experience the excitement of seeing those dreams become reality. And tonight, the dreams of hundreds of volunteers and more than generous donators is a reality as I proudly present to you, the newest prehistoric display at Montana's Museum of Natural History, The Challenge." The sheet dropped from its suspension cables to reveal two Velociraptor skeletons poised to appear as though in a face off challenge. The room exploded with applause and cheers as Grant shot a grin towards the many excavation volunteers situated around the room.

Ellie brought her hands to her face as she hysterically laughed back tears of sear joy, Billy whistling in cheer. The paleontologist's focus then went to where Pet was standing, her not where he remembered seeing her. She was gone. Had he upset her that much that she left? Grant smiled at the audience as Mr. Bulmer shook his hand. Where was Pet? The man then made his way to the back room as he was stopped by people congratulating him and shaking his hand. As thankful as he was for the generosity of the crowd, he didn't care about that at the moment. He worried what had happened to the hybrid.

Ellie greeted her friend, her hugging him in joy. "That was amazing, honey!"

He hugged her in return. "I hate talking in front of large crowds."

"I know. You did great!"

His blue eyes desperately pinged around the many faces congratulating him. "Where did Veronica go?"

Billy shrugged as he noticed the hybrid was gone, him commenting. "I didn't know she left. One minute she's here then the next…"

The younger man searched the crowd as Ellie said, "I'll go check the ladies restroom."

Grant's mind started running through worst case scenarios. Had someone discovered what she was and took her? There was no way in hell anyone could have figured it out, unless someone from InGen was there. He wiped the thought from his mind as he rushed throughout the crowd in a desperate attempt to find the hybrid. Surely he hadn't over looked her as would stand out too much from everyone else. There weren't too many people there that night wearing dark colored dresses and for those that were, they stood out against the brightly colored walls. In his searching he questioned himself. He hadn't been this concerned about where she was since her arriving to the dig site. Why was tonight any different? That's when it hit him. The realization was both an anchor crushing his chest and a breath of life sweeping through him. He loved her. No, he was _in love_ with her.

Ellie saw her friend from through the crowd to tell him the hybrid wasn't in the restroom, her seeing the man in shock and sadness. She went to where he stood, motionless. "Alan, what is it? Did you find her?"

He shook his head. "No."

"What's wrong?"

"Now isn't the time." Though the two had remained very close friends since going their separate ways the previous year, he wondered if Ellie would be alright with his new found caring.

Ellie grabbed at her purse that matched her dress and revealed her car keys. "I'm going to go see if maybe she went to the car." She rushed towards the front door, Grant close behind.

They exited the cool air of the museum and out into the warm evening air when the two people saw Pet leaned against the wall, Derek standing in front of her. They stopped their conversation to see Ellie and Grant, the older man seeming frustrated as he asked in a harsh voice aimed at Derek, "What did you say to her?"

Derek was offended and shocked that he would have even been blamed for anything. "I didn't say nothing!"

Pet sniffed back tears. "He didn't do anything. He was only trying to help."

Grant approached the hybrid. "Why did you just leave?"

Ellie gently hugged the hybrid in comfort. "Are you okay?"

The hybrid nodded. "Yeah." She smiled as she returned the hug to other woman.

Grant asked again, this time louder. "You had me scared that something happened to you!"

Pet stood up straight as she wiped at her eyes and met his gaze. "Thank you."

Grant saw the smile in her eyes as her blue green eyes glistened against the shimmer of tears. "For what?"

She rolled her eyes. "You used my speech idea."

He was stunned. "All this for a thank you?" He threw his hands in the air as though admitting defeat. "If that's the case then stick with a screw you. It's easier to deal with and I don't have to find you." He wanted to hug her for reassurance, but found the idea troubling and damn near impossible. They met each other's gaze.

Pet smiled again as she wrapped her arms around his neck, the man lost on what to do next. She whispered into his ear. "I can not thank you enough for tonight."

He gently kissed her on the forehead and exhaled a heavy breath, still trying to calm down from the panic. "Come on, let's get back inside before all the champagne is gone." They went back inside to where the night's attendants still mingled, the man keeping a hand at the woman's back. He was not about to let her out of his sight again.


	113. A Night To Celebrate

**113 - A Night To Celebrate**

Nine PM and finally things were starting to wind down. Too bad they couldn't have done it sooner. Grant was feeling uncomfortable with a tie cinched around his neck and his suit coat buttoned up. He was ready to shed the unwanted articles of clothing. His watch cut over to Pet and Ellie giggling about something. His eyes traced the hybrid's figures in another admiration of how lovely she looked. She had caught him looking, but instead of him trying to play off nothing happened, he merely gave her a scheming smile before looking away.

Blush turned the hybrid's cheek a deep shade of red that couldn't be hidden. Ellie had seen the two and stiffened back a giggle at them. She'd already given her little spiel to her very close friend in an encouragement for him to pursue something with the hybrid. Afterwards, and by the way the man was talking, things were going to be different.

Grant approached Billy, currently talking to a lovely young brunette in a black dress, and spoke. "I was thinking of moving this little party to Cat's."

Billy nodded in approval. "Sounds like a plan to me."

Ellie checked the time on her silver linked watch. "I can't be out too long. I have something going on tomorrow morning at the lab."

"Awe come on Dr Sattler…what's a couple hours at Cat's for a little pool and some drinks?"

Ellie laughed. "I don't want to be out too late. I do have a responsibility."

Billy then looked to Pet who was still smiling but had her attention at the floor. "What about you? You down for some drinks?"

The hybrid met his gaze, her nodding. "Sure."

Billy shrugged. "If we get enough people to request karaoke I'm sure Cat will get it going. It's not Friday but there's no harm in fulfilling the requests of frequent customers."

Pet laughed as she walked over to the where the newly revealed display stood, as she felt more tears threaten. Grant joined her while Billy began spreading the word to the volunteer workers that showed up at the museum the plan. The paleontologist noticed she wasn't hiding herself anymore and wondered if that was because of the champagne or her gradual relaxing around others.

The young woman studied the prehistoric display. "So why the challenging pose? I thought you were going for more of the two predators hunting pose since that is what you make them out to be to your fans…cunning predators."

He shrugged as he unconsciously started admiring her skin tone in contrast to the color of the dress and its colorful beadwork. "I liked the idea and sketch of the two in a challenging fight. It allows the public to see raptors in a different light. By suggestion of my raptor specialist that is." He then saw the hybrid smile as her cheeks let off a healthy red glow against her golden brown skin tone. "I should be thanking you."

She timidly bit her lips together, shrugging. "You don't need to."

That magnetizing force was drawing them closer together, again, but he couldn't let it. Not in public, anyway, and backed away from the excited heat radiating off the woman. Didn't matter how much distance he put between him and her, the heat was still there. It was coming from him. He anxiously loosened his tie and checked his wrist watch; 9:20 PM.

"Let's get out of here" he huffed and spent the next 15 minutes politely making his exit.

By midnight, the bar and grill was full of celebrating excavation volunteer workers. To congratulate the many frequent customers on their job well done, the business owner offered a free round of drinks. Mixed drinks, hard liquor, beers and even sodas to the underage steadily flowed. Ellie only stuck around for a short while before leaving, as did a few other workers, but some others who had chosen not to go to the revealing came to the after party.

Muldoon was in the back corner where the pool tables were, challenging his cocky nephew while Pet kept teasing. Once in a while, she'd get a turn in but she more chose to watch as she wasn't the greatest at playing pool.

At one point, when Grant had gone off to get them another drink, Muldoon took a stand next to the elegant young woman. "You do look lovely, by the way." She bit out a nervous half smile and shrugged. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a supporting way. "Guess you're not my little Pet, anymore, huh? What is it, now? Veronica?"

They exchanged amused glances, her nudging him in the side. "Come on, Rob, I'll always be your Pet."

"Is that so? I don't recall seeing a collar around your neck" he teased, not intending his words to strike a sensitive cord with the hybrid. Subconsciously, she brought a hand to her neck. She had almost forgotten what it felt like to wear the long lost item. He saw her blue green eyes turn downwards in regret. "No to worry" he stated and dug into his khaki pants pocket to reveal a ball chain with a dog tag hanging from the end. "Some person with a personality disorder gave me your old collar. The leather band its self was shit, so I had to improvise."

He handed her the ball chain necklace. With hands shaking in excitement, she accepted the chain and studied the tag to make sure it was the same one from her collar. Sure enough, there was the little knick under the letter A. She laughed out a sob and slid it around her neck. It felt right having the tag around her neck, whether or not it was on a collar.


	114. Something to Think About

**114 - Something To Think On**

Rattling of pots and pans in the kitchen startled Grant awake. He blinked his groggy eyes and wiped at them, noticing it was morning. Billy must be awake. It felt like déjà vu all over again for the scientist and he sat up, sighing. Wait a minute. This wasn't his room. This wasn't his bed...and that wasn't Billy flinging around a slew of profane words when shoving the pots and pans back into the cabinet. Recalling the memories of the night before lead him to where he was now, the man sighing. He rolled his blue eyes to glance over his shoulder and behind him to meet the half lidded blue green eyes of Pet.

She ran a hand down the man's bare back, red trails streaking at angles across it from the night before. After arriving back to the dig site, the night had taken an interesting turn for the two. At least for her anyway. She wasn't so sure about him, especially now given the look of panic in his eyes. Pet sat up, keeping the bed sheet around her shoulders, and studied the man.

He looked from her and to the collection of their clothes strewn about the floor around the bed. That's what he thought. He sighed, the woman questioning. "I guess something is wrong..."

The man wasn't sure how to answer. Should he answer? "I, uh..."

"Great" the hybrid huffed and slid to the opposite side of the bed to fetch a clean change of pajamas. She could sense it on him; doubt, hesitation, nervousness. She had a feeling this would happen, given how reluctant he had been to finally caving in and admitting his feelings.

In her getting dressed, Grant hadn't moved. He was too riled up in his thoughts to notice several minutes had passed. The hybrid went for the door, but he grabbed her hand to stop her. "Veronica, you do realize I'm 17 years older than you."

There was a sense of sternness in her glare and a tone in her voice that struck a part of the man he wasn't aware existed. "Age is just a number, Alan...to an extent anyway. If two people care mutually for each other, what is age...race...religion...even gender? What are those boundaries compared to something far more greater and much more beautiful? Its an excuse, is what it is, for people too afraid to take that step to possibly being that much more happier." She rolled her wrist out of his hand to go to the door again, but was once more stopped by the man.

"I didn't say I was afraid..." He pulled her down to join him sitting on the bed. "I'm just not sure how other people will take...us..." His use of the word us brought a shiver to the woman's spine and her hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end.

"What does it matter? Why let what people think stop you from being happy, if your happiness is beyond their approval. You're a grown man, Alan, and well capable of making your own decisions." She watched him look to the floor in thought and felt for a moment, it was regret about the night before. "Think on it. Just let me know something soon whether or not you have it in you to continue with _us._" Pet got up and finally left, leaving the man to either think about what she had said or get dressed.

Quietly and in forced calmness, the young woman stepped out into the living and kitchen area of the trailer she had come to call home. Derek was whipping up batter in a mixing bowl for pancakes while the shower water ran in the bathroom. The bounty hunter took one look at the questionable hybrid and frowned. "Something wrong?"

She shook her head and forced a smile. "No. It's fine." Pet went to the kitchenette bar and crossed her arms over its top, leaning into them. "I thought you didn't like pancakes."

"I don't. I hate them. But Uncle Rob made a hint this morning at having a hankering for some." He began pouring a small amounts of the batter onto an electric skillet until 4 pools were made. "What about you? Want some?"

"I'll be fine with making my own breakfast later." The shower water turned off, Pet continuing. "How much bacon is left?" She went to the fridge to see quarter full package. "Meh. Almost out. Oh well, I'll save it for Robert. I've already learned my lesson to not mess with his bacon supply." She sat the bacon by the stove and watched as the batter began bubbling on the skillet.

A moment later, Muldoon stepped out of the bathroom wearing a pair of khaki shorts and a light blue button down shirt. "What's this I heard about my bacon stash?"

Pet shot him a sly smile. "First come, first serve..."

Their conversation was cut off by Grant timidly exiting the main bedroom and into the living area. Derek stared at the man and blinked in disbelief. He pointed to the mixing bowl with the spatula. "Pancakes?"

"Oh, no thank you" the flustered paleontologist answered. "I was going to grab something at my place after a quick shower."

Greatly disliking the unwanted attention, the scientist quickly left the trailer. He made sure to stay out of sight from other volunteers prone to rumors and gossip by taking a longer route back to his trailer. After all, he was wearing last night's suit and being seen in it the morning following was sure to fuel an inferno of rumors.

Muldoon looked to the hybrid in complete surprise as did Derek. The latter of the two cocked a smile. "Pet! Did you-"

"Shut up, Derek" she growled.

Uncle glared at nephew. "Take a walk, will you? I need to have a little chat with a certain someone..." The hybrid recoiled under the heat of the man's tone of voice. She took the spatula from Derek to resume cooking the pancakes.

Pet mentally braced herself for the lecture she knew was coming and began lining up her points of fact to present in her defense. She was damn near 24 and had every right to see who she chose and do whatever she wanted with her body. "Well" she began, flipping over a half cooked pancake. "Going to lecture me about-"

"I'm not going to lecture you on anything...just inform you about a conversation the Dr. and I had a few days back when you were gone to town." Pet arched a brow at the man. "He's still trying to get over Ellie and is afraid any and all attempts at trying to move on will result in another disappointment. He's afraid, Pet. He's married to his job and can get overly distracted with it, sometimes forgetting there's other people around. As was the case with Ellie. She wanted kids, he didn't. She wanted a nice house in the city closer to work, he wants to keep his sandbox and bones. Eventually, it came between them. He doesn't want to get hurt, again and doesn't want to hurt anyone else."

Pet finished flipping over the last of the four pancakes and sighed. "I sort of already came to that conclusion. I'm not stupid, Rob." Her raptor eyes met his apologetic blue ones. "I can sense, smell, hear and see what a person is thinking and feeling before they do. I've been sensing his unease since I first got here...smell his fear, hear his heart beat about to explode out of his chest sometimes and see it in his eyes...in his body language. Yes, I know he's afraid which is why I've been keeping my distance the best I can. No one told him to buy that dress and I sure as hell wasn't the one to make the first move last night. That was _all him, _just to let you know."

Muldoon nodded in acceptance and took a step closer to the woman to whisper, as though someone else were listening in on their conversation. "Was last night you're, uh..."

"That's my business, Robert."

"Right. Thought so" he grumbled in almost annoyance and heavily sat down at the dining table. Much to his dismay, there was no morning paper waiting for him. "Damn."

"Have to think, people either slept in this morning or were hung over after last night's little party at Cat's." Seeing how the pancakes were done, the hybrid got a clean dinner plate from the drain board. Pet was almost done scrambling her some eggs for breakfast and finishing up with cooking the last 4 pieces of bacon when the trailer door opened. She stated, "Hey Derek can you make me a glass of juice, please?" She looked over to see it wasn't Derek coming into Quarantine and fell silent, seeing Grant. "I'm sorry, I thought you were Derek..."

"Obviously" Grant stated and closed the door behind him. He tossed an unopened package of bacon on the kitchenette bar, cocking a half smile to the hybrid. "I heard you were almost out and figured I'd bring over some more."

He kissed her on the head and went to the fridge to get the jug of juice. The broad smile on the woman's face couldn't be hidden, no matter how hard she tried to stay straight faced and composed. For the first time in years, Pet felt like things were about to get a whole lot better for her.


	115. Word Gets Around

**My apologies on falling behind posting new stuff. Been busy with personal stuff on my end and got swamped. What little bit of time I could manage to steal for myself, I spent going over old chapters and fixing obvious boo boos. **

* * *

**115 - ****Word Gets Around**

Trying to keep her mind on her designated task, Pet pulled the brim of her ball cap further down in hopes of completely blocking out Dr Grant from view. Every time she looked at him, she'd blush uncontrollably. She tried lowering her head next and knew if she lowered it anymore, she'd literally be nose deep in the dirt. Anxiously, she adjusted how she was laying on her stomach. Working along side the man wouldn't be so bad or awkward feeling had it not been for the night before and the storms of whispers around them.

The hybrid grumbled to herself while trying to ignore the overly enjoying himself smirk painted on Derek's face next to her. He leaned over and whispered in her ear. "You're blushing again."

She harshly punched him in the side and scooted further away from it. It didn't work, though, as he was back to being shoulder to shoulder with her. "Will you piss off?"

"Nope. I'm enjoying this way too much." He could see the woman glare at him with raptor eyes from the edges of her sunshades. Patting her on her fist tightly gripping a toothbrush, he softly whispered in her ear. "Don't worry, babe. I understand the first time can be disappointing...especially when with an _older gentlemen_."

Pet turned her face to fully stare at him in disbelief and jerked back at how close they were to almost kissing. "You little shit" she growled.

Derek chuckled and wiped off the tip of her nose. "You had dirt on your nose, by the way."

The hybrid lightly growled and shook her head, not noticing the equally fluster faced Grant laying across the fossil from her. His green eyes darted between the two people as he regretted allowing the bounty hunter staying around. He was almost certain it was because of the younger man running this mouth that the entire dig site already knew what had happened. He sighed to himself and watched the two continue to bicker. Everyday seemed more like child's play between them two than anything else and he was sure he wasn't the only one who noticed this.

Grant was growing more and more irritated at the younger man's constant sexual innuendos directed as his now girlfriend. Perhaps it was their lack of seriousness or dedication to the dig site, since they both agreed to help, that was getting under his skin. Or maybe it was because he really didn't care too much for the younger man's recklessness or lack of professionalism when it mattered most. He was crude, arrogant, disrespectful and what the hell was he doing now? Grant stopped in his picking away dirt within the fossil cracks to see what looked like Derek trying to weasel a free grab at the woman's chest.

Derek innocently reached over the hybrid's arm, grabbing the limestone encrusted toothbrush she had just sat down in exchange for a chisel and hammer. "Will you two knock it off!" Grant bellowed out of no where.

Everyone working on the fossil stopped to stare at the excavation site manager only to notice his enraged, green eyes pin pointed on the two people directly across from him. Pet and Derek exchanged confused expressions to each other, the hybrid shrugging. "Knock what off? I'm over here doing what you told me to _exactly_ the way you showed me."

Derek held the toothbrush up and pointed at it. "I'm brushing off dirt."

Grant sighed to himself and shook his head. "Seems like to me all you two are doing is goofing around."

Pet nudged her counterpart in the side as though trying to push him away. "Seriously, Derek, go away." He ever so slightly slid away from her, but was still quiet close in proximity to her. "I will give you a lobotomy with this chisel if you do not go work in your space."

He whispered just loud enough for her to hear, "Can I work my chisel into your space?"

"Sick bastard" she spat and got up, storming away. In her wake, a limestone cloud followed as she dusted off her shirt and shorts.

Derek giggled when watching her leave and brought his attention back to a not too pleased Dr Grant glaring at him in disapproval. The smile on the younger man's face quickly disappeared and he nervously cleared his throat before going back to work.

Pet made her way to her trailer to see Muldoon working on the Jeep. She joined him and planted her hands on her hips. "Mark my words, there's going to come a day when I finally snap and kill your nephew."

The much older man gave no visual acknowledgement to the hybrid and continued working. "I keep telling him the same thing, but he doesn't listen." He looked around the vehicle, as though trying to find something. "Can you check inside and see if I left the bag from the auto store on the bar?"

"Yeah, sure." She went inside the trailer and found the bag, opening it up to see what was inside. The first thing she saw was the receipt and withdrew it to look it over. She skimmed the purchased items and gasped when she saw the prices. "$619.93!?" Clutching the receipt in one hand, she drug the bag outside and tossed it on the wooden table by the Jeep. "You spent $617 on car parts? Seriously, Robert? I could've taken it to a quick lube and gotten this stuff done for cheaper! You didn't have to spend this much."

Still the man gave no visual acknowledgment to the woman as he continued. "I'd rather do it myself." He grabbed a red rag hanging over the grille of the Jeep and wiped off his greasy hands. "Besides, it gives me something to do."

"This thing is brand new! What needs to be done on it?" Her eyes examined the engine to find it in almost pristine condition had it not been for the layer of dust on it.

"We're in the middle of a grassy area, Pet. The drive to and from the highway to town is a dirt road. Dirty means shit gets dirty." The scarred man collected a funnel and bottle of oil off the table and opened the bottle.

"Okay, okay I get it" the hybrid stated in frustration. "I just, don't see why you have to do it yourself, regardless of it being something to do. I mean-" she gestured to the excavation behind her. "Look at all the fun stuff to do at the dig site." When she turned around, Muldoon was gawking at her with a deadpan expression. "Its just…so much fun" she continued sarcastically.

"You and I think of fun differently, Pet." He positioned the funnel and started pouring the oil down it.

"Nonsense! You get to work with your hands and get all dirty rolling around on the ground." As she continued, her attention darted between the man and an apparent newcomer to the dig site. "Don't you want to be like every other guy here and...oh fuck me." Her voice was full of shock upon recognizing the newcomer.

But Muldoon didn't realize she was looking off to the side and in being completely taken off guard, dropped the quarter full oil bottle. "Bloody hell…" With oil coated hands, he quickly fished the bottle out of the engine and tossed it on the table. His shocked gaze instantly went to the hybrid to see her equally shocked gazed aimed over his shoulder. "What the…" Confused, he turned around to see what, or who in this case, she was looking at. "You've got to be fucking kidding me. Pet, get my rifle."

Not immediately noticing the two people not far away, Terrence Mitchell scanned the many faces of the excavation volunteers. Pet stammered, "H…How the hell did he know where we were?"

In his searching the many faces did he finally happen to look over to see both hybrid and guardian looking equally dumbfounded at him. He broadly smiled and waved at the two. "Hey you guys!" He trotted over to the two and extended a hand to Muldoon, but when seeing the oil on his hand, patted him on the shoulder instead. "Glad to see you're up and about!" He looked to the recoiling hybrid next. "How's it going, Pet? Or should I call you Veronica?" Like a child with ADHD, his attention was quickly ripped away to further examine the dig site. "Wow. What a neat little set up. Its like a tent and trailer city in the middle of no where." Terrence smiled back at the two. "Wasn't hard to find the place, that's for sure."

Behind his back, Pet and Muldoon glared at the other as the hybrid upper lip started to curl in a snarl. The scarred game warden questioned. "How the hell did you know we were here?"

"Oh, that's easy. Mr. Hammond told me shortly before his passing. He felt the more people out here personally protecting you, the better, Pet…uh…Veronica?"

The hybrid snorted in annoyance and clenched her jaw in anger. Great. The last person she'd be happy never seeing again was now just a couple feet from her. As if this day couldn't get any worse.


	116. First Impressions

**116 - First Impressions**

Grant cocked his head and studied the smiling new comer. "What did you say your name was, again?"

"Terrence" the man in question answered.

"And how do you know Veronica?" The Dr placed his hands on his hips, curious. Being a man, he couldn't help but feel a little jealous and concerned.

Pet cut in. "We used to work together in Kenya. He was my partner after Robert was transferred to the park."

"Ah" he stated, glaring at the game warden beneath the brim of his hat.

Without warning, Derek barged into the conversation and reared back a fist, punching Terrence in the face. "You son of a bitch! What the fuck are you doing here, huh?!"

It took Muldoon and Pet to hold the furious bounty hunter back in his trying to make another swing at the newcomer. "Damn it, Derek, _back off!_" The older man jerked his nephew from the scene to throw him off to the side.

"I know what you did, asshole!" His yelling was drawing attention from site volunteers as Billy came running up.

Terrence got to his feet and wiped at the trickle of blood streaming from a fresh cut on his now busted lip. "What was that for?"

"You tried to kill her" Derek raged back, trying to push past his uncle only to fail.

Pet stood between the angry man and once co-worker. "This isn't the place for this conversation." Good thing she was wearing shades as her raptor eyes skimmed over the faces standing around and whispering amongst themselves. "Let's take this elsewhere, shall we?"

Derek jerked open Quarantine's door and punched the wall upon entering the trailer. Muldoon forcefully shoved his nephew out of the way to allow the others to enter. Billy was about to take it upon himself to join in on the scene stirring conversation, but Grant stopped him. "Keep an eye on the dig, for me, will you?"

Offended at being excluded, the protégé nodded his head in forced acceptance and trudged back to the fossil's canopy. Pet guided Terrence to the kitchen sink and wetted down a paper towel to wipe away the trace of blood.

Grant kept a close watch on her, growing more uncomfortable at the woman's TLC to the other man. Derek continued to yell at the top of his lungs. "I should shoot you myself!"

Pet snapped out a snort of a bark and cut her eyes down on the bounty hunter. "Will you shut your damn mouth, Derek? He's the reason I'm still here, shit wad! If it wasn't for him, I'd probably be dead! When InGen sent their first team to come find me, it was Terrence who told me what was going on and watched my ass!"

"He was hired to find you and kill you on sight!" The bounty hunter and hybrid were now inches from the other, yelling in each other's face.

"Oh you mean like you? If I recall, you too were hired by InGen to hunt me down. Funny how that worked out, huh?" She growled and snorted, daring the man in a visual taunt for him to try and make a move.

The two people stood there, glaring at the other in anger. "I don't trust him here" Derek retorted. "What's to say he isn't a spy for InGen or something? After all, he just came from working at one of their zoos."

Terrence brought the paper towel down from his swelling lip. "I quit working for the zoo after Peter Ludlow hired me to hunt down Pet. I didn't like the cloak and dagger motif being adopted by the company and got out there. I've been working Kenya as an anti-poaching patrol." He licked at the sore spot, wincing at the sting he got in return. He looked at the hybrid. "Got some ice I can put on this?"

Derek scoffed. "I remember what you did to Robert. The collar? That was some low bullshit and you _knew it!_"

Pet grabbed a bag from a kitchen drawer and opened the freezer door to fill up the bag with ice. "He did that because I told him to." She sealed up the bag and wrapped it up in a clean paper towel, passing it to the man. The woman slid off her shades and tossed them onto the counter to glare at the still fuming Derek. "If you're going to blame anyone for that, then blame me. Not him!"

The trailer went quiet, Derek sitting down on the couch and burying his face in his hands. The hybrid looked to the man half hidden behind the ice pack and tugged his hand down to look at the bruised and swollen lip. She sighed, the man's gaze following her every move. "You're not the same as what you were in Kenya."

"People tend to change when left on an island, twice...and hunted down...twice." She let go of the man's face and went to her room. A moment later she returned with a yellow tube of lip balm in her hands. She squeezed a bit of the clear gel onto a finger and started dabbing it on the busted lip. "This will help with the healing." She dropped the tube into a pocket on the front of his shirt. "Keep it. I already have a shit ton of that stuff laying around."

When she turned to walk away, Terrence got his first good head to toe look at the woman dressed normal and cocked a smile. In her striding over to stand next to a quiet Grant, the new comer saw the universal men's stern stare for 'back off' and quickly got the point. Terrence awkwardly turned around and put the ice pack back on his lip. So much for a good first impression.


	117. Not The Warmest of Welcomes

**117 - Not The Warmest of Welcomes**

Evening fell upon and the excavation and with it, a growing tension in Grant. All afternoon since the excavation's latest arrival, he'd watched how his girlfriend had been favoring the other man. He didn't like it and clenched his jaw in anger because of. Finishing up her shower in his bathroom was the woman as he did his best to regain composure. He knew better than to know she'd fall for it. Damn that animal in her and her heightened senses.

The water turned off and after a couple minutes, she stepped out wrapped in a mid calf length, black bath robe. She could see the man seated on the couch and looking over burdened with whatever it was on his mind. Pet joined him and sat down next to him to study him. He was in need of a shower as a thin coat of dust was evident on his face and clothing. She licked a finger and wiped away a fleck of dirt near his eye, bashfully smiling.

His blue eyes settled on her in question, him sighing. She didn't like the tone in his gaze. "What's wrong?"

"That guy..."

"Terrence?"

Grant nodded. "Yeah. What's the full history between you two?"

The hybrid lightly laughed. "Dr. Alan Grant is that jealousy I sense?"

"_No_" the man quickly chided.

"Mhm." Pet caressed his dusty face, smiling in tease. "I can assure you, you have nothing to worry about. I used to work with him in Kenya for a little while before I was transferred to Jurassic Park. After that, the next time I saw him was when he came to the island post shit happening to hunt me down. Our contact was more indirect than anything, if it makes you feel better." She trailed down his jaw in a tender touch. "He's more an acquaintance than a friend. Why he accepted coming here is beyond me...Dad putting the bug in his ear or not. We never really got along and spent more time at each other's throats than anything. Hell he even shot me in the ass with a tranquilizer in Kenya days after working together, for crying out loud!" She laughed as though a joke, seeing the look in the man's eye not lifting in skepticism.

"You two seemed to be on pretty good terms this afternoon." He didn't move as the hybrid leaned in, planting a gentle kiss on his dry lips.

"I owe him a great deal after doing what he did to protect me against the other men out to actually kill me. He could've either killed me, himself, or brought me in alive for a higher bounty pay out."

The people looked deeply into each other's eyes, Grant nodding in acceptance. "Then I guess I'll give him a chance."

Pet smiled and gave the man another kiss, one he more openly welcomed and urged to go deeper. The two sat there, enthralled in the other and unaware the direction things were going until a knock came at the trailer door. Annoyed at the disturbance, Grant sighed. He looked to the woman now straddling his lap and wondered when she did that.

"I don't know who that is or what they want so I advise you hide in my room for now."

Pet wickedly smiled. "If you want me in your room, all you have to do is ask. No need in making excuses..." She kissed him again, ignoring the knocking at the door growing louder.

She got up and disappeared into the man's room, closing the door behind her in a wink. "Damn" he breathed to himself and answered the door. There, looking back at him was a broadly smiling Terrence. His smile looked a bit distorted due to the swollen gash at his bottom lip. The surge of jealousy reformed in Grant, but he did his best to bite it back. "Mr. Mitchell...Something I can help you with?"

"Terrence, please, Dr. And yes...Is Pet here? Well, Veronica..."

Annoyance started to pile on top of the jealousy. "Why?"

"Uh, I was just curious to know where I was to be staying and wanted to ask her. There's still two bunks in the trailer, uh...Ol' Quarantine?" He waved a hand in the air. "I'm not even going to ask, but anyway..."

Pet poked her head out of Grant's bedroom door and stepped out in a clean change of clothes she had brought with her before showering. "You're more than welcome to take one of the spare bunks."

"I was thinking so" he nodded, hands on hips. "But that little shit, Derek, doesn't seem to think so."

Pet snorted, her eyes flaring to a raptor's. "Derek is a little shit." She drove her clawed feet into her dusty boots. "I'll go have a talk with him." She turned to look back at her boyfriend and gave a weak smile. "Don't worry, Alan. I'll be right back."

As she left the trailer, Grant wasn't about to let her go alone with the other man and stayed close in stride with her. The three people arrived back at Quarantine, Pet opening the trailer and stepping inside. Grant was behind her and Terrence behind him.

Seated on the couch was Derek, him polishing what looked like a-"Derek no!" Pet called, but too late. WHOOSH! A tranquilizer dart blasted out of it's respected gun's barrel and impelled itself in Terrence's leg.

"Son of a bit-" the man didn't get all the words out when falling to the ground, unconscious. Grant barely moved out of the way in time before being fallen on.

Muldoon turned from his pouring a drink in the kitchen and took one look at the motionless man face down on the linoleum floor. "Damn it to hell, you little shit, what did I tell you about that fucking thing!"

"Oops" was all Derek had to say in a voice void of all empathy.

Uncle aimed a finger at nephew. "Watch where you aim that bloody thing next time you decide to clean it!" He took a deep swig of his bourbon. "You could've shot Pet or Dr. Grant on mistake!"

Grant looked horrifically up from the drugged man and up to Derek. "What the hell was that thing doing loaded anyway?!"

Derek shook a finger in the air in realization. "Right." He opened up the tranquilizer gun and aimed it at the floor when gazing down the barrel. "Chamber's clear!" He closed it back up and smiled innocently at the paleontologist.

"I don't believe this" Grant huffed and turned, leaving the trailer. He called over his shoulder in the process, "I'm leaving this mess to you, Nica."


	118. Payback

**118 - Payback**

Terrence woke up the next morning, groggy and groaning in response to a head splitting headache ringing in his ears. The top of his left thigh was sore from where he had been hit with the tranquilizer dart. "That bastard" he mumbled when forcing himself to sit up.

His vision was blurry and he rubbed at his eyes to find he was on a comfortable bed in a room to himself. He focused on his surroundings and smelled lavender in the air and saw a collection of pony tails and scrunchies on the night stand. This had to be Pet's room and he winced in discomfort when slowly getting to his feet. Oh yeah, he was definitely going to get that little shit back for this.

He opened the door to find the trailer empty and scratched at his chin growing over in stubble. Where was everyone? "Hello?" No answer. Great. Now what?

* * *

Derek laughed to himself over a bite of egg and sausage in his mouth. "Seriously, though, did you see the look on his face before he passed out?"

Pet shook her head at the bounty hunter seated directly across the dining table. Grant handed her a fresh cup of coffee and joined her, resting an arm on the seat back behind her. "What were you doing with a tranq gun, anyway? What's out here that could possibly pose a threat?"

"You're dating it" he stated, shoving another bite of food into his already full mouth.

Muldoon sighed. "Never know with her. One day she's perfectly fine and the next, in need of an attitude adjustment. I wasn't quiet sure if I'd need it or not so I brought it anyway." He sat down next to his nephew with a plate of his own breakfast in hand. "Better to be safe than sorry."

Pet snorted in amusement and sipped her steaming coffee. "You guys are bad. I'm not going to interfere when he decides to take a gun to your ass!" She pointed a clawed finger at the not so concerned bounty hunter.

"Does it look like I really care?" He drank down his bites of food with a glass of water. "I am curious, though...You mentioned having worked with him in Kenya. That wouldn't be the same guy you and Uncle Rob named Mr. Personality, would it?"

"The same" Muldoon stated, pouring syrup over a stack of waffles. "He's like a poster child for Ritalin."

Billy emerged from his bedroom, wearing his usual flannel pajama pants and disheveled hair. He didn't bother to visually acknowledge the formed group within the trailer. "Morning guys." He waved a hand in the air and went directly to the coffee pot. In his pouring himself a cup, he happened to glance out the kitchen window's opened blinds to see the strawberry blonde man coming towards the trailer. "Uh, Alan... that new guy is coming."

Grant heaved a sigh. "Great." He got up and opened the door just as the approaching man was about to knock.

His broad smile was the last thing the lead scientist was expecting to see on the man, especially after the day before. "Good morning Dr. Grant."

Derek could hear the overly chipper voice of the unwanted company and reached behind him to withdraw his pistol from his pant's holster. Pet gave the man a sour look. "You have got to be the most irresponsible and negligent man to _ever_ own a gun of _any_ kind."

The bounty hunter stared at the woman with a deadpan expression as he shoved a half of piece of toast into his mouth. "Sho" he slurred out.

The hybrid buried her face in her dulled clawed hand. "Wow. Just Wow."

Derek giggled. "That's what she said!" As soon as the words left his mouth, he fell victim to a kick under the table from Pet and a sharp smack upside the head from his uncle. "What?"

Terrence entered the trailer, smiling and waving at the group. His gaze lingered on Derek, however, as a scheming smile up stretched his pronounced features. "No harm, no foul?" The bounty hunter didn't verbally respond, but only glared sourly. Terrence warmly smiled to the hybrid. "Thanks, by the way, for letting me crash on your bed. Its quiet comfortable, by the way."

Pet smiled and nodded. "I think so."

Derek snickered. "Is that why you choose your bed every time?" He dodged an attempted kick at his shins. "Ha!" But missed the hand coming from across the table to slap him. His stated at her in disbelief. "You keep teasing me like that and we're going to have to take this elsewhere." He winked at her and handed her a link of uneaten sausage. "Want my sausage?" She sneered and grabbed it, taking a bite of it. Derek flinched in pain as the link was tossed back onto his plate. "You're supposed to be gentle!"

"I thought you liked it rough" she jeered.

Muldoon scoffed. "Knock it off, you two." He pointed a finger at the hybrid. "And you! You know better than to give in to his bullshit."

Grant glared at the two people, Terrence confused. He tilted his head to the side, figuring it best to not ask. He shook off the growing collection of mental questions regarding the questionable two and refocused on the paleontologist. "So, uh, what's there to do around here?"

* * *

Terrence stared at the bucket of plaster at his feet and watched as volunteer workers dug their hands into the substance to smear on different sized fossils. "Right" he stated and pulled up an unused, fold out chair.

Billy began explaining what to do while Grant and Muldoon hauled an already prepared fossil to the museum's truck. Pet had already had plaster, both fresh and dried, up to her elbows and covering the front of her apron. Derek was drinking away on his sport's bottle full of water and bobbing his head to music playing on his headphones while working on mixing more plaster.

Terrence evilly grinned at the younger man and began a mental countdown in his head. It shouldn't be too much longer from now. All he had to do was sit and patiently wait. Ten minutes later, Derek began squirming where he sat and grimacing in discomfort. He grabbed at his stomach and frowned. Had he eaten something bad? His lower gut churned and suddenly had the urge to go to the restroom. Not wanting to waste anymore time, the young man bolted from his chair and made a mad dash to the trailer.

Twenty minutes later, Derek returned and wearing an extremely angry scowl. He stopped shy of Terrence and pointed at him. "You son of a bitch! You put a laxative in my drink, didn't you?"

The man in question smirked at the younger man, him not saying a word. Muldoon looked to his nephew. "Serves you right, if you ask me."

Terrence lightly laughed. "Payback is a bitch, isn't it? Next time, don't piss me off. Consider us even." He held out a hand chunked over with plaster. "Truce?" Derek reluctantly accepted it and returned to work, but not before pouring out the rest of his drink.


	119. Back to Work

**119 - Back to Work**

The last plastered fossil was loaded up into the truck and its tail bed blanketed with a thick tarp. The driver parked it under a trailer's porch awning and just in time too. Cool drops of rain began to pelt the Ft. Peck Lake region, sending many excavation residents to seek cover. Pet didn't mind the rain, cool or not, as she had come to miss it. She always enjoyed sitting beneath the jungle canopy and watch the drops fall from the overhead leaves and onto the ground. Not to mention enjoy the smell of it, too. Here, though, the rain had a different smell to it and nothing like the island's.

Thunder rolled in the dark clouds overhead and she glanced upwards to watch the turbulent clouds dance along the wind currents. It was a peaceful sight and a nice change of things compared to the usually sunny skies. Too bad for the excavation workers the cloud cover brought rain or else the shade would be welcomed to work under. Pet joined Grant at his trailer and went inside, laughing at the cold rain tickling in its running down her back.

Once inside, the hybrid started wringing out her ponytail and bottom edges of her shirt so as to minimize a potential mess throughout the trailer. Grant didn't bother as he went to the washer and dryer's little utility area and unbuttoned his shirt. A glint flickered in the hybrid's eye when admiring the flexing of the man's muscles of his back. She approached the scientist, tossing his wet shirt into the washer, and closed the distance between them by wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

She kissed along his shoulder and up his neck, to his ear. She whispered, "Looks like we need to get you out of these wet clothes before you catch a cold..."

A devilish smile curled the corner of the man's lips and he turned to face the woman, instantly taken by her in a kiss.

* * *

Pet shivered against a chill that had managed to set in overnight and not just in the bedroom, but everywhere it seemed. She reached around her in for the blankets and frowned when finding herself alone in the bed once occupied by one other person. Where was Alan? Judging by the faint traces of his scent and the cool resting on the wrinkles of bed sheets, the man had been absent for quiet some time. Her sleepy gaze went over o the back of the bedroom door where he usually had his hat hung and found it gone. This most likely meant he was at work. What time was it anyway? Pet checked the time on the alarm clock next to the bed to find it was 9:20 AM. She had completely slept through breakfast.

Outside, it was still drizzling with rain, but not too bad that it couldn't be worked in. Grant hated it when it was like this. He preferred the loose dirt over the mud as things were now. Despite his best efforts to keep the primary dig site dry, high winds had blown aside a part of the tarp that rainwater had invaded through. Fossils were so much easier to clean and the dust to brush away unlike now. He sighed, wiping away an area he had just cleaned with a damp wash rag he had sitting in a bowl of water next to him.

Laying across the dig from him was Derek get a tutorial in wet weather excavating. It seemed the bounty hunter wasn't cut out for this type of work after all. He grumbled in discouragement, but kept working regardless. It was either this or sit in the trailer with nothing to do. In times like now, he was missing the large cities of California's coast. So much to do and so many people to chase down! Since getting involved with the hybrid known as Pet, his bank account was starting to dwindle. First was the job with Isla Sorna that he hoped would pay big, but after the events leading to Virgil's team becoming dinosaur food and he being the sole survivor, he knew explaining that to InGen wouldn't work out so well. He knew better. Nope, best to just skip that pay check, never mind how big it would've been.

Then there was the month in the bunker. He had passed on several job offers that, though wouldn't have paid much individually, would have still ended up being a nice filler for the bank account once they were all completed. And now came this, the excavation site. This had to be the biggest money and time sink for the young man.

A ringing from his pants pocket made him stop in his scraping away dirt from the femur of the fossil to fetch the chiming object. He read the name to see who it was before answering. It was Mike, a bail bondsman he usually worked with a lot in San Francisco. "Yeah, Mike, what's up?"

He politely excused himself from the dig site to talk in private. As he walked out Pet walked in. A sharp smack on the backside and wink from the man to the hybrid sent a streak of annoyance down her spine. She turned to go after him, but stopped when seeing the man was already half way to Quarantine. She snorted in annoyance and pushed past a flap of tarp to go into the covered dig site area lit by utility lights and a light stand.

She didn't bother offering a good morning to Grant, nose deep in work and most likely oblivious to her presence, as she settled in next to Billy. The young woman collected a metal pick and overly worn out tooth brush to pick up where Derek had left off.

Pet hadn't been working long when Derek returning scared her. Her yelping a bark sent Grant's bowl of water spilling over his fresh work and Billy almost jumping out of skin. She reached behind her and slapped the slightly older man on the leg. "Damn it you little shit! You scared me!"

As much as Derek wanted to giggle at the scene, he had other things to talk discuss. "Hey uh, I just got a job offer back home so I'm going to be gone for a few days."

Billy mocked a laugh. "Oh whatever shall we do without you?"

Derek ignored the sarcastic and rhetorical question. "I'm going to have Uncle Rob drive me to a nearby airport so I can fly out."

"Okay" Pet stated, resuming her work.

"What, no good bye hug or kiss? And here I thought we had something" he teasingly moped.

"Only thing you're going to get from me is a swift kick in the ass..."

"At least its some kind of acknowledgment." Derek drove his hands into his pockets. "See you in a few days" he mumbled, leaving the tarp tent.

Grant sighed and shook his head. "Maybe now we can get some peace and quiet around here."

"Don't count on it" Pet quietly stated, scraping away a chunk of damp earth from the fossil.

* * *

**Writer's block...the worst thing ever, imo. Other than certain events planned in my head for chapters, its the filler in between that get me...**


	120. Analyzing and Appreciating

**120 - Analyzing and Appreciating**

A warm shower had given the chilled hybrid some sort of jolt of energy unlike the sluggishness she had carried throughout the day. She and Grant had his trailer all to himself for most of the night, seeing how the Dr's protégé was off on a date with the brunette from the museum's exhibit unveiling. Pet gladly welcomed the being able to walk around the trailer without shoes on and curled her toes against the cool of the linoleum floor.

Lounged out in a clean, unbuttoned shirt was Grant with eyes closed and head leaned against the back of the couch. The hybrid joined him by laying at the opposite end and resting her feet in his lap. She thought nothing of it as she got comfortable, but the man thought otherwise. There, in his lap and resting uncomfortably close to his gut were the hybrid's signature, sickle toe claws. He was certain one twitch from the woman would send one of the claw's points tearing into his flesh.

Grant knew the woman would never hurt him and tried to push past the obvious dangers of having her so close by. He sat there, giving the woman a good head to toe look over before realizing he had never really _looked_ at her. Yeah sure he noticed the raptor like eyes when they made their appearance, the semi normal half normal-half carnivorous teeth, the clawed hands when the claws weren't dulled down and the oh so distinguishing raptor like feet. But he had never really studied the features of the woman and compared them to what he knew of her prehistoric counterpart. He had never _touched_ her key features and began running the tips of his fingers along the top of one of her ankles and to the top of her foot.

The woman cracked an eye open to study him and parted her lips to speak, but couldn't. There was a magic in his eye and an enchantment in his touch she dared not break by blurting something stupid. No. Instead, she laid there and let the man do whatever it was he was doing. His touch was very gentle, at first as though he were afraid he'd break her when touring the top of her foot with his fingers.

Then, his touches broadened to the palm of his hand curling itself around her big toe. His thumb traced along the top of the sickle claw, feeling how smooth it was in comparison to the rough texture he imaged it would be.

The tip was sharp, which was no surprise, along with the much smaller claws on the other two toes. He began to massage her feet in his getting a better feel of the bone and muscle structure. "Can you walk flat foot or on the balls of your feet, only?" His blue eyes searched her blue green ones for his answer.

Her voice was soft in response. "I can, but only for a short amount of time. My feet weren't designed to walk like that and it hurts after a while trying to." Grant nodded in acceptance of the answer and continued his analyzing the woman. Up her leg he went, feeling the tight knot her calf muscles were as she flexed them. A shy smile broke at one of the corner's of his lips. "Your skin feels like a type of leather."

Pet nodded. "That's because my skin is marginally thicker than a human's."

"Interesting." Over her knee and to her thigh, him seeing the naturally darker skin pattern of her upper leg become darker the higher up to her hip it went. Her belly and sides were a paler and softer skin as were the underneath of her arms. He was now almost stretched out next to the woman as his face was inches from hers. "Beautiful" he stated and leaned in to kiss her.

His hand snaked down her arm and to her clawed hand, him weaving his fingers between the much smaller ones of the woman. He broke from the kiss to study her hand, surprised he never noticed how slender they were. Her wrists looked as though lifting anything over 5 pounds would break them, which brought to mind another question.

"Your bone density" he began, eyes never leaving his studying her arm. "Is it like a normal person's or is it more hallow like a bird's?"

"Lighter than a human's, actually. Not hallow, just not much bone matter like a human's. A human's skeleton weighs I think 14% of a person's total body weight. Mine would be more around 12%."

A faint laugh escaped the man. "You truly are a remarkable piece of work. What's the fastest you can run? Jump in height? Jump in distance?"

It was Pet's turn to laugh. "One question at a time, Dr!" She peeled her hand from his to caress his cheek uplifted by a boyish grin. "Fastest I can run, I'm not sure anymore given how I haven't been clocked in years. How high I can jump depends on how much speed and effort I put behind it...same with distance."

"Can you demonstrate, for me?"

Pet looked at the man in bewilderment. "Like, how? Where? We're in the middle of your excavation, Alan. It's not like I can just go running around the place jumping off of things for your amusement."

Grant laughed, its richness filling the trailer. "Oh, no I didn't mean like that!" He lightly kissed the woman. "I meant, jump up on the kitchen bar or something..."

The woman looked over to the waist high bar and back to the man. "I can do that."

She got up from where she was laying as the man followed, sitting up and intently watching the woman. He studied everything about her from the way her muscles flexed to the way she positioned her body when executing a jump onto the kitchen bar. The things he noticed the most were how her legs were angled outwards, body lowered and arms tucked at her sides. He remembered all to well how a Velociraptor looked when poised to leap out. All she was missing was a tail to counterbalance the weight of her upper body. The lack of a tail, of course, was offset by her broad and particular placement of feet for balance.

Pet made jumping onto the kitchenette bar look effortless and Grant smiled, standing up. He studied how the woman was poised in kneeling down post landing and studied every angle of her body. A creation with the ability to kill like a fearsome predatory animal, but with the fragility of a gentle natured young woman.

He stood before her, watching her ease down to sitting on the edge of the bar. "If possible, I'd like to see you in action. Running, that is. I know a decent stretch of land about 5 miles from here we could go." Pet was hesitant to say yes to the request and ran all sorts of worst case scenarios through her head should she be seen by a camper, hunter, or otherwise.

The longer she looked into the man's silently pleading blue eyes, she couldn't possibly fathom saying no and nodded instead. "Its going to have to wait till the afternoon, though, when its warmer. I don't really function too well in the mornings when its cooler outside."

Grant nodded. "Done" and pulled the woman to him for a loving kiss.


	121. Full Speed Ahead

**121 - Full Speed Ahead**

"32" came Muldoon's voice from behind the wheel of the Jeep. His eyes kept pinging between the grassy plain he drove on and the speedometer. "34." Grant's head and one of his shoulders was outside the passenger door's window where he watched the racing hybrid.

Her running position was nothing like what he had imagined, but then again he wasn't quiet sure what he'd imagine. A human style running to something resembling a raptor's? He hadn't actually seen a raptor run out in the open to really know what they looked like. All he was using as reference were computer generated models based off of skeletal structures and scientific guesswork on muscle mass. Her arms where tightly bent and held close to her sides. Her body was leaned slightly forward, which was baffling due to the potential for her to loose her balance and fall forward.

Either way, this was how her body had come to position its self when running. "36" the Jeep's driver called out again. He remembered the other times they had done stuff like this before and knew she only lasted maybe 2 minutes tops. After that, she would tire out and slow down. "28, 21, 14...She's slowing down."

Pet gradually slowed and in heaving a pant, stopped to plant her hands on her knees in a leaning over position. She couldn't breathe fast or deep enough to fill her lungs desperate to recover the lost air from her running. The muscles in her legs tingled and her head swimming as she stood there, damning herself for even saying yes to those blue eyes of the scientist. And what beautiful blue eyes they were, Grant getting out of the Jeep and striding over to the woman in all smiles.

She gave him a loving smile and huffed out a bark, falling to the grassy earth unconscious. Muldoon watched the Dr rush over to the grounded hybrid and try to wake her. "No sense in trying, Dr. Grant. She'll be out for a few hours."

"What?" By the way the man was talking, this was something the woman was prone to do. "You mean this always happens?"

The ex game warden stood over the passed out Pet and sighed. "Anytime she over exerted herself on animal tagging tasks both at the zoo and on the park, she would fatigue herself out. I figured by now after living out in the wilds for so long she'd have built up an endurance by not passing out after running."

Grant collected the young woman in his arms and carried her to the Jeep, carefully getting in the backseat with her.

* * *

The Jeep topped a hill and in doing so, became visible to those within the excavation below. By the time it parked, Billy was standing by and waiting to discuss business with his boss. Grant could only imagine what his protégé wanted. "What does he want, now..." he grumbled.

Muldoon looked to the backseat passenger through the rearview mirror. "I'll tend to Pet. You go see what he wants."

Carefully, Grant slid out from under the resting woman who's head was in his lap and was about to open the door until Billy beat him to it. The senior scientist became overfilled with horror at the younger man finding out what the woman really was. Luckily, because of the way Pet was laying and the way Grant was sitting, her feet weren't immediately visible.

In his sliding out of the car, he could see Billy look to the woman in worry. "What's wrong with Veronica."

"She fell asleep" Muldoon growled, getting out of the driver's seat and glaring at the junior scientist.

Billy recoiled in the heat of the stare and stepped around to his boss for cover. "Hey Alan, there's something I need to talk to you about. Its about the museum's new prehistoric division's curator. She was wanting to come take a look at the dig site sometime this week."

The look on the paleontologist's face was explanation enough for the thoughts in his head. "Great. Just what I wanted to hear" he sarcastically stated and trudged off towards the office trailer.

Billy took one last look at the Jeep and reluctantly followed the Dr. He wasn't looking forward to this conversation. The last curator was arrogant and self centered, constantly demeaning Grant in private on his 'slow progress' but always quick to play best friends in the public eye.

Muldoon stood and waited for the coast to be clear and slid the hybrid out of the back seat. He went inside Quarantine to find Terrence inside and standing over the kitchen sink with a bloody hand under running water. "What happened to you?"

Terrence dabbed a clean washrag on a gash located on his left thumb, noticing the two newcomers from the corner of his eye. "Something stupid. What happened to her?"

"She went for a little run." Muldoon joined the other man and grabbed the injured hand to take a better look at it. A steady stream of crimson seeped from a clean and fairly deep cut starting from the thumb's tip and along the underneath to the first knuckle segment. "Looks like you cut yourself with a knife."

Terrence winced in a flicker of pain and pulled his hand back to continue washing it. "Like I said, something stupid."

"Care to explain?" He fished around in the dish towel drawer to get a clean rag and got it wet.

"Aren't you going to help her?" Terrence motioned with his head at the unconscious hybrid on the couch.

"Don't worry about her. I'm more interested in hearing about you making an idiot of yourself." The older man went to the couch and sat down, dabbing the hybrid's face with the wet rag.

"I was helping a kid with a model airplane kit" Terrence breathed out exasperatingly. "He was trying to rip the pieces out of the sprue so I decided I'd be nice and cut it out instead. Twisting and pulling can cause damage to smaller and more fragile pieces."

"And that's when you cut yourself instead, I presume?"

Terrence sighed. "I blame it on the dog. The mom was coming outside and the dog came out, too, and tackled me. Couldn't be the ankle biting toilet brush. No...it had to be the hyper active German Sheppard that loves everyone!"

Muldoon chuckled. "You mean that neurotic, yappy little white toy poodle fluff wad?" Terrence nodded over his shoulder. "I fucking hate that dog."

"Who doesn't?"


	122. Blue is the New White

**122 - Blue is the New White**

After resting for the better part of three days and trying to regain her strength, Pet still felt sore and overall tired. She was glad Derek still wasn't around because she knew he would do anything possible to annoy her and make her feel worse. He would probably make a jab at her in some cruse way and not stop until she gave him the reaction he was after. She knew better than to fall for his baiting her, but she wasn't about to take being picked on lightly and let him get by with it.

Pet sat outside on Quarantine's porch and was comfortably stretched out in one of the chairs. From behind her shades, her raptor eyes remained glued to the most obnoxious dog she had ever encountered. She usually loved animals no matter how ugly, vicious or otherwise annoying they could be. But this particular dog was the bane to her loving animals. It yapped in its high pitched bark and occasionally growled as it neared closer to where the hybrid sat.

Pet remembered what Muldoon had said about the dog on more than one occasion and grumbled in protest to get up to execute a newly conceived plan. She was going to make sure the dog would learn from its lesson one way or another. The woman went into the trailer and to the pantry where a box of small dog treats were kept. She usually kept them around for a couple of the dig site's more loveable dogs that made frequent passes by the trailer. One she absolutely adored was a half beagle, half Jack Russell terrier mix named Shelby.

Pet went back to Quarantine's open front door and waved the dog treat in the air, the white poodle stopping its barking to tilt its head to the side in a whimper. The more Pet went back into the trailer, the poodle followed. The dog was now in the trailer and cautiously following the treat.

"That's it, Sugar. Come get the treat..."

* * *

Right on time, a black Chevy Avalanche pulled up along side the excavation and parked. Grant sighed and looked to Billy for assistance on this. "So help me, if this one is anything like the last one, I'll knock his damn teeth in."

Billy stiffened back a laugh at his boss's comment until the driver of the Avalanche got out. She appeared to be in her early 30s and was a tall and slender woman with almost black tresses curtaining icy blue eyes that could be seen from across the dig site. She wore a navy blue pinstripe dress suit that graciously flattered her body's curves and matching heeled shoes.

Both men went to approach the woman only to be distracted by a familiar toy poodle with patchy, blue dyed ringlet curls scampering past and whimpering. Billy watched the dog run to its owner's tent, the man questioning. "Uh, wasn't that Sugar?"

"Yeah" Grant answered in confusion. They weren't the only ones to see it as trails of snickers and laugher broke in the dog's passing wake. "I have a feeling I'm going to be hearing about this later..."

"Who do you suppose did it?"

"Take a wild guess" Grant answered under his breath, watching the new museum curator approach him.

Her rose red lips curled to a smile. "Dr. Grant?" The addressed man nodded. "Michelle Miller" she continued, out stretching a hand. "Its a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Dr. Grant."

Out of courtesy, the Dr nodded his head in appreciation. He checked her left hand's ring finger, finding nothing, before continuing. "Pleasure is all mine, Ms. Miller."

"Please, call me Shelly." Billy could see the fireworks directed at Grant go off in the woman's icy blue eyes and anxiously smiled for his boss's sake. "This is quiet the little dig site you have set up here. Blue dogs? Dare I ask?"

Billy snickered in remembering how the dog looked. "Best not to" he answered.

Shelly forcibly peeled her attention off Grant only for the sake of professionalism when addressing someone else. "And you must be Billy, right? Billy Brennan?"

"Yes ma'am. We spoke on the phone." Before he could finish speaking, her eyes were right back on the senior scientist.

Their conversing was interrupted by an older, stockier woman sounding rather livid in her treading through the excavation site and straight for its over seer. "Dr. Grant, a word?" Tucked under an arm was Sugar, the blue colored poodle. It took everything Billy had to keep from laughing and turned to avoid drawing attention to his otherwise failing attempt. "Who did this?!" She extended the arm she had the dog resting on to emphasize her question.

Grant sighed. He knew it was coming, but hoped it was later rather than sooner. "Mrs. Thompson, I-"

"I want to know who did this to my Sugar!"

Billy gestured for Shelly to follow, the woman a mix of leaving the lead scientist's presence but eager to get away from the tempered woman. Grant held his hands up to try and calm the woman. "I will find out who did this and-"

"It was that bastard of a prankster, wasn't it? You know I'm talking about...Darrel?"

"Derek" Grant grumbled.

"Yes! _HIM!_"

"Mrs. Thompson, he hasn't been present at the dig site in the past few days so I doubt it was him."

Wait, Derek hadn't returned unnoticed had he? Nah. Couldn't have. Derek seemed like the kind of person to let everyone know regardless of who that he was back in the area. He knew Muldoon loathed the dog, but knew he wouldn't have done this. Only one person left, Pet. Of all the people to draw attention to themselves.

Pet calling in the distance for the Dr. got the angry woman's attention. "You had a hand in this didn't you?"

The hybrid planted her hands on her hips and smirked. "Now what would make you think I would do such a thing?" Sugar started growling at Pet, Grant scowling at her as well. "Besides, blue is the new white, right? I mean, isn't that the latest uproar I've been hearing? White and blue, black and gold... I don't know. It's whatever to me. I could care less about the specifics. Anyway, Alan..." Pet ignored the woman about to go nuclear in anger and turned to face the addressed man. "There's some readouts to go over I thought you might like to take a look at when you get the chance."

Grant rolled his attention over to where his protégé and the new curator stood. "It'll have to wait till later, Nica. The new curator is here and there's some things I need to discuss with her first."

Pet studied the rather attractive woman and felt a bit of jealousy peak inside her. A light growl echoed her throat and she nodded in forced acceptance. "Alright."

Grant left Mrs. Thompson and Pet alone together and rejoined Billy and Shelly at the dig site canopy. The hybrid got herself into this which meant she was going to handle it herself. Both women looked to the other, Pet's nostrils flaring.

* * *

**I couldn't help myself yet again. I had to toss the latest internet breaking phenomena (the color changing dress) into things in some way. Especially given how easy it was to add into things...giggles.**


	123. Situation In Question

**123 - Situation In Question**

Pet and Billy watched Grant lead the new curator around the dig site, it being only a matter of time before the well dressed woman lost her balance in her heels. The terrain was very unfavorable to heels, something she should've taken into account prior to coming to the excavation.

Billy questioned the young woman next to him. "I'm curious, what exactly did you do to Sugar?"

Pet shrugged. "Decided to clean Quarantine's toilet. Maybe I used _a little_ too much toilet bowl cleaner." She nodded while wearing a scheming smile.

"Seriously?" The junior scientist laughed.

"You asked" Pet sneered, meeting the man's gaze. The two shared a giggle before looking back at the strolling professionals. The hybrid clenched her jaw in another rush of jealousy and in feeling her territory being intruded upon. "How long has she been here?"

"Not long." Billy drove his hands into his cargo pants pockets and was taken by surprise when finding stuff buried within them. In his extracting the contents, so far being a metal pick and small paint brush, he continued. "She showed up just before you came around."

"I don't like her" Pet stated in a low growl.

The man gave the woman a sideways glare in question, digging around in his pocket to find a bunch of dirt. "Is that because she's got it in for Alan?" Another odd sound came from the woman. What was it with her and making strange sounds?

"I just don't like her. Ever get that way?" She met the junior scientist's hazel eyes. "You can take one look at someone and know you're not going to like them at all? Something opposite of love at first sight..."

Billy lightly laughed as he turned his pocket inside out to shake out the dirt. "Sure, I suppose. I find nothing wrong with her."

"Of course you wouldn't. She's a pretty lady and you're a guy. Enough said." Pet crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He swapped hands holding the tools to dig around in his other pocket.

"Men are usually attracted to pretty girls and via versa. She's a pretty girl and well, Alan is...well..." She started blushing and awkwardly cleared her throat.

Billy frowned, knowing all too well his boss's sway on women. Seemed like every attractive woman that had come to the dig site post his arriving ended up getting a crush on the most senior scientist.

Joining the two from the side was Terrence, him pulling off thick leather gloves heavily caked in plaster. His injured thumb was neatly wrapped in gauze. He held his gloves in his non injured hand and rested his hands on his hips. "Who's the new girl? A sponsor?"

"The new curator" Pet grumbled.

"Ah, okay. She's pretty."

The hybrid hung her head low in discouragement and sulked back to Quarantine. She went into the trailer, waking Muldoon who was napping on the couch. It looked like he had been watching TV, but fell asleep at one point.

The hybrid didn't bother asking as she plopped down on the couch next to him. He could see something was wrong and patted her on the back. "What's got you bothered this time? Your little prank with that yappy ass dog come back and bite you in the ass?" Pet shook her head. "Someone say something to you?" Pet shook her head. "Then what the bloody hell has you all moping?"

Pet heavily sighed and shook her head. "Its nothing. Don't worry about it."

She got up and went to her room, closing the door behind her. She sat down on the foot of her bed and adjusted the window's blinds to look outside. She watched them, the man she loved and the woman she strongly disliked walking side by side and laughing by the dig site. This wasn't happening. She fell backwards on the bed and laid there, mind lost in a swirl of mixed emotions and doubt.

* * *

Wednesday came around and much to Pet's dissatisfaction, sent Grant on a luncheon with Shelly. Pet was furious at this as he hadn't said much to her after initially meeting the curator. This only drove the hybrid into further doubt. Was he second guessing their relationship now that a prettier and more normal woman closer to his age was around? Pet often heard them talking when Shelly was at the dig site for a second time on Tuesday. The woman was spilling all her interests and childhood dreams to be a paleontologist, Grant feeding off of it and further conversing in those topics with the woman. It was enough to make the hybrid torn to pieces emotionally.

Pet would go hide in her room and lock the door, thinking through everything and how she was possibly looking too much into things. She would make herself feel better and after recollecting herself, would venture back out into the dig site only to be infuriated again. After her back and forth trips, Muldoon kept asking what was wrong with her but Pet never answered. He saw what all the hybrid's fuss was over and couldn't blame her. Even he wasn't like the closeness forming between the two 'professionals'.

After Grant returned from the luncheon and wearing a smile on his face, he entered his trailer to find Pet solemnly sitting at the dining table. He could've sworn he had locked the trailer door. Did Billy let her in, perhaps?

"Hey Nica. I wasn't expecting you to stop by." He knew something was wrong when her raptor eyes snapped open and set firmly down on him.

"We need to have a little talk..." she growled.

Grant sighed as he allowed himself to join the hybrid at the table. "Alright."


	124. Not the Greatest of Dates

**124 - Not The Greatest of Dates**

Walking back to the trailer had never been this painful before. She strode past Mrs. Thompson's trailer to see Sugar, now a sky blue versus the darker blue, sitting on one of the concrete steps. It made a yelp before tucking its nubby little tail and scampering under the trailer. Pet scoffed and continued in her strides to Quarantine. She leisurely opened the front door and stopped when seeing Derek was back. The young man waved at the hybrid coming inside. "Heya Pet, how's it going?"

She lazily waved back and grimly sat down on the couch, trying to ignore the probing gazes of Muldoon and Terrence at the dining table. "Its going, I suppose." She sighed and looked around at the many faces and shrugged. "Well, I'm officially single, now."

All eyes looked over to Billy leaning against the kitchenette bar. He wasn't quiet liking being their new center of focus. "What?"

* * *

Wednesday poker night continued as normal, everyone present except Grant, Pet actually thankful for this. At least she thought, at first. The more the night went on, the more jealous the hybrid became. What was he doing? Talking sweet nothings on the phone with his new lady friend? Thinking about it further stirred the pot of jealousy brewing inside the woman.

Pet was so caught up with her thoughts that she didn't notice the game had changed to blackjack. She paid attention for a little before going back to staring into space, unblinking. When it came her turn, Derek hit for her. He leaned over and said in her ear, "You're welcome."

"Huh?" Pet blinked away her dry eyes and met the man's chocolate ones. She found no answer in them so she looked down at the line of cards in front of her. It took a minute of counting all of them to realize the numbers added up to 21. "Oh..." Her wide and still oblivious stare drifted upwards to Muldoon. "Right..." He passed her the winnings in exchange for the cards, him still seeing the look of shock in her eyes.

* * *

Three AM rolled by as Pet felt the empty void of being alone in her bed. She tried to mask her sobs, tried to keep them down to a minimum. The three men at the opposite end of the trailer still heard her. Derek was baffled. "And all this because of some new girl? Is she at least hot?"

Terrence answered without hesitation. "Yes."

Muldoon snapped out, "Enough" and with that, the bunk room went quiet.

The night drug on and with it, a lack of sleep for the trailer's occupants. By the third night of hardly any sleep, Derek trudged into the hybrid's room and laid down next to her. Usually she would hit, slap or push him away anytime he tried to get close to her but not tonight. Tonight was just the opposite. She curled up next to him and buried her face in his shirt. Suddenly, he wasn't liking the senior scientist anymore.

Come Saturday, Grant had plans to meet Shelly for what he hoped was a nice dinner date. She was practically dragging him out by insisting they meet up at a steak house she absolutely loved. They had only met up a handful of times for lunches and this being their first dinner, but why was it always where she wanted to go or what she wanted to do? Go by the museum and pick her up, never mind the soup and salad restaurant literally being a block over.

He mentioned meeting up at one of his all time favorite places, but she would have nothing to do with it. She described it as being a cesspool of drunks with lazy and disrespectful employees. Was she even thinking of the same place as him? In all the times of going to Catfish's, he nor any of the other site volunteers complained of poor service. As far as the cesspool of drunks went, there were only 2 well known customers to frequent and linger the bar area.

Grant checked his watch. It was getting close to 5:30 PM. He would need to leave soon if he wanted to get to the steak house by 7. This of course was after he would have to drive to the other side of town to go by her apartment to pick her up and then go back through town to get to the steak house. She was the one asking him out, yet he was the one having to drive all the way into town, pick her up and take her wherever she wanted to go at his expense. At least the most she could do was pay her way. He never really minded taking a lady out for a nice date or fork over the costs in the process, but with Shelly it was different. She was conniving.

Grant grabbed his hat and planted it on his head, leaving the trailer. Outside, the site volunteers were preparing for the bond fire and BBQ. He wanted to stay, as he had never missed a BBQ yet, and frowned. Hopefully this wouldn't take long and he could get back to maintain that record. He got into the museum's tan truck and backed up, driving away.

Pet watched the truck disappear over the rise until all that was left was its engine rumbling in the distance. Derek gave her a nudge in the shoulder. "You don't need him. His loss, not yours." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Think of it this way. You're not single, you're options for dating just expanded."

Terrence strode past the two after exiting the trailer. "Remind me to never seek your post break up advice."

* * *

7:15 PM and finally at the steak house. Grant frowned when learning his reservation had been null and voided following his 10 minute late arrival window closing. Now, he was seated outside in the chilly night air and waiting for a 45 minute wait time. And all because Shelly wanted to make sure her nails were dry before going anywhere. This was outrageous. He had a feeling he was going to miss the BBQ, seeing how the woman tended to be a slow eater. What was making things even worse was her insisting he leave his hat in the truck. It wasn't sunny outside and he wasn't working so why wear it?

Sure enough, a little after 9 and she was still picking at her food. She didn't even order a steak, either! A bowl of chili and that was it. She could've gotten a bowl of chili at Cat's and for a hell of a lot cheaper, too! Not to mention it'd taste better. Grant had long finished his steak and was picking at the left over battered onion appetizer that she just had to have, only to eat just three of.

9:30 and finally she was done. He grabbed a take out for the onion and paid for the check. Her glaring at him otherwise was a sure sign she wasn't going to have anything to do with it. He drove her back to her apartment as fast as he could. Usually he was one to slow down at yellow lights, but not at that particular moment. He would speed up to race the light and even passed through the intersection just as the light was turning red. Yeah, he wanted to rid of his diva passenger.

He pulled up to her apartment complex and didn't bother shutting off the engine as a means of politely telling her to get out. Still, Shelly continued to use her sly ways and leaned in closer to the man to steal a kiss. He wasn't going to have it. He turned his head away from her, speaking. "I need to get back to the dig site."

Shelly felt a bit hurt by the man's refusing her affections. "They're grown adults. They can handle themselves." She tried again at a kiss and failed. "Have I done something wrong?"

"Where shall I start" he questioned in a frigid voice. "Now please, get out."

A look of being startled at the no notice tone in the man's voice brought question to the woman. "Um, call me?"

"Sure" he stated. "Next week." It wasn't a lie. He'd call her. He'd have to regarding the arrangement of picking up what few fossils were ready. Shelly reluctantly slid out of the truck and watched the man drive away quickly.

* * *

The glow of a healthy bond fire could be seen quiet a good distance away. Grant parked the truck and got out to join in the festivities. He eyes instantly started scanning the many faces for the hybrid before he found her standing off to the side. In her hands was a bottle and down its neck was a piece of cloth on fire. She took a mouthful of something and held up the bottle, spitting out the liquid. A plume of fire erupted inches from her face. She did it a couple more times, several people laughing and cheering her on. One person cheering her was Billy.

Protégé and boss met stares, the younger of the two men not really concerned with the other's opinion.

Derek grabbed the bottle and mimicked the woman's fire breathing trick, proudly smiling. "Mine was bigger" he jabbed.

Pet spit out the mouthful of liquid and took the bottle from the man. "I would hope so, being you a guy and me a girl." She sat the bottle down on a table and picked up her beer she had been drinking. "Besides, it would just be unnatural if mine was bigger." She gave him a wink.

Derek closed in on the hybrid. "Want to find out for yourself?"

"Ha!" The hybrid laughed out and took a swig of her beer.

"Hey now" Billy said, keeping a hand at the woman's back.

Pet saw Grant and met his troubled gaze as he approached the small group of friends. He spoke. "Got a minute, Veronica?" He could see her eyes try to change and was certain had it not been for Billy present, she would've let them.

"Yeah, sure." She followed the man until out of hearing range of the others. "So what's this about, hmm? We haven't spoken since Wednesday."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." His stern features melted into guilt.

A part of the hybrid felt his sadness, but she shook her head against it. "No, what's done is done. Your goof is another man's win." Pet's expression solidified. "Despite how I feel for you, I'm not going to stand around and let my life pass me by while you figure out what you want in your life." The hybrid paused, noticing the man refusing to look her in the eye. "I love you, Alan. I really do. The raptor in me has already chosen you as a mate, but the human in me...The human in me wants to know what its like to live, love and be loved." She reached up to caress his face while turning his attention to her. "I will always be your friend, Alan, and right now that's all we're going to be."

The two people stared deeply into the other's eyes, the man seeing the heartache and pain he had caused the woman reflect in her eyes. "I can accept that." He shifted his attention over to his protégé appearing a bit on edge and bit out a smile, nodding. Billy understood and subtly nodded back.


	125. Keeping Secrets

**125 - Keeping Secrets**

Derek leaned in over Pet's shoulder to smell the blueberry waffles warming in the toaster. "Have you told him, yet?"

"Told him what?" The woman paid the man no visual acknowledgement, though she had a feeling he knew what he was referring to.

"About your split personality..."

"Nope."

"Are you?"

"Not decided yet." The hybrid reached into the fridge to get a stick of butter and a knife from the silverware drawer.

"Well, if you plan on having a successful relation with your latest boy toy, I advise being upfront and honest. I mean, he's going to find out eventually one way or another."

The waffles popped and Pet began spreading a small piece of butter across each one. "Which is why I plan on being careful."

The man scoffed and took a sip of his morning coffee. "You can't even restrain yourself from snorting, barking and shrilling. You really think you can maintain composure during-"

"Will you shut up? _Please_?" The hybrid pointed the crumb flecked butter knife to the man's face. "Don't you think I've thought of this already?"

She tossed the dirty knife into the sink with one hand while popping the syrup lid open with another. As though suffering from OCD, she made sure each little square within the waffle was filled with syrup before doing the same to the next one. Satisfied, she went to the dining table and sat down next to Terrence busy shoveling his own waffles in his mouth as he read the news paper comics.

She grumbled when realizing she forgot a fork. Derek sneered and reached into the silverware drawer. "Hey Pet, want a fork? Or wanna spoon?" He wiggled his brows at the woman suggestively.

* * *

Billy was almost to Quarantine when the front door flew open on its hinges and slammed against the side of the trailer with a tremendous thud. Erupting from within was Derek giggling and the woman nicknamed Pet jumping from the stairs and onto his back. To the dusty ground both people fell, the woman... screaming? Or screeching? What the hell was that sound? It was high pitched whatever it was.

Pet began punching the man in the sides, not noticing their scene's onlooker. Derek saw him, however, and laughed out. "Hey Pet, you have a visitor!"

She kept a hand on the back of the man's head and a knee in the middle of his back to hold Derek down. Her raptor like eyes rolled in their sockets to where a hardly surprised Billy stood. She forced out a smile. "Hey..."

The junior scientist could care less about the people's typical squabbling as it was almost like clock work now a days. "Morning."

Pet got off the man, thankful she still had her house shoes on. "What brings you by so early?"

"What's up with the eyes?"

The woman was completed baffled on the question, Derek answering for her. "She's been working on her Halloween costume."

What was being referred to clicked in the woman's head and she nodded, going along with the cover up. "Yeah, I, uh...finally got my contacts in." She nodded, nervously laughing.

Billy looked questionably to the woman before looking over at a dust covered Derek. "Halloween isn't until another couple months away."

"Better early than late, right? The closer to Halloween I wait, the more of a chance I take on stuff being back ordered and possibly not getting here on time."

There was something to the woman's smile that made Billy slightly more curious than before. "Right. Okay."

* * *

For days, it took everything Pet had in self control to keep her eyes from changing. It took even more self control over herself physically when she ended up staying the night. She never thought making herself be so human would be so difficult. Following her and Grant's parting, she remembered a topic he had brought up in why he was starting to distance himself from her. Her claws, both on hand and on foot. She never meant to hurt him intentionally and felt distraught because of. The woman took that into account and then some when deciding to become serious with someone else. That and she didn't want to take the chance of Billy panicking when finding out who she was and running off to tell someone.

Before anyone was awake in the wee hours of the morning, Pet held the palms of her bloody hands under the kitchen sink faucet. The cool of the water helped soothe the throbbing from her digging her claws into her hand. Though they had been dulled down, apparently not enough for them to draw blood. Or maybe she was just squeezing her hands that hard. She had made sure to keep thick, fluffy socks on to help both conceal her feet and to help remind her to stay in control of herself. How much longer could she keep this up?

The hybrid let the trickles of water continue to ease the pain as she saw small puncture wounds amongst the redness and swelling. Grant's door cracking open startled her and she leapt back a bit. He kept a steady eye on her, a bit hesitant on approaching her given how jumpy she seemed. "You alright?"

Pet swallowed the sudden knot of anxiety in her throat and nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm fine...just," she stuck her hands back under the water. "Wasn't expecting company is all." She bit out a shy smile and tried to hide her injured palms from the man by turning them away from him. "Sorry if I woke you."

Grant shook his head and furrowed his brow in curiosity at what the hybrid was doing. He could see faint traces of blood mixed in the water as it spiraled down the drain. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine" Pet snapped out, but it wasn't enough to convince the man. He rolled one of her hands over to see the 4 puffy, red welts in the heel of her palm.

"Fine, huh? Mind telling me how this happened?" He flipped her other hand over and frowned, scowling at her.

The young woman rolled her eyes and grumbled a sigh. "I was trying to play it safe by not scratching-" She stopped, not sure how to continue with the sentence. "I didn't want to hurt anyone so I..." She sighed. "Fuck it. I figured it was either Billy or myself and since he doesn't know about _all_ of me, yet-" She shrugged, turning off the water and reaching for a paper towel.

"When are you going to tell him? Are you even going to tell him?" The two people met each other's gaze, the hybrid frowning.

"I don't know if he'd understand or accept me if I did tell him." She winced and hissed at the pain when blotting her hands dry.

Grant gave her a shake of the head and went into the bathroom for a first aide kit. He came back and opened the kit, setting out certain contents along the kitchen counter. "If you're going to continue seeing him then you need to be honest." He opened a tube of antibiotic ointment and began smearing it on with a Q-tip. "He's had his eye on you since you first got here. Just like how you had your eye on him."

When the first hand was treated, he placed a nonstick, bandage pad on the puncture marks and wrapped it in gauze. He then began doing the same to her second hand. Within minutes, both hands were bandaged and the gauze wrapping firmly secured.

Pet wasn't sure how to explain the bandages and frowned. "Next task, to figure out how to explain these..."


	126. Moment of Truth

**My deepest apologies for taking so long to post new stuff. New puppies graced our family at the start of the month and its been hectic since. Such little handfuls! Hopefully things will start to slow down now that everything seems to be adjusting to the changes. To the readers asking about JP3, that's not for quiet some time. According to the timeline on JP wiki, there's a 4 year gap between Lost World and JP 3. At the moment, its late '97 in the story, so there's still some time to cover. I wont stretch out the time gap that far as I'll make things as brief as possible while covering certain things, but its still an unknown amount of chapters out there. Hope this doesn't discourage anyone. During this time gap, though, I'll start dropping some things along the way pertaining to Jurassic World.**

* * *

**126 - Moment of Truth**

Cooking breakfast had never been so difficult or awkward. Pet kept oven mitts on to hide her bandages, but knew that by doing it, it would cause unwanted attention. She continued to try and ignore the curious stares from Billy seated at the dining table as she finished up the last of the bacon. Smiling, she slid the grease dripping slices onto a paper towel next to the oven.

Billy couldn't take the question quietly burning in his head anymore. "Nica, why are you wearing mitts? You've never worn mitts when cooking."

Grant nervously looked up from his paper and over to his protégé before shifting his gaze to the hybrid. Pet bit her lips together in uncertainty and shrugged. "I had a moment last night." Was this is? Was this the moment she was going to finally break down and spill everything? Grant was on the edge of his seat in anticipation. "I couldn't sleep last night and went to Quarantine for a quick snack. Derek was still awake and like usual, he had something smart ass to say. We started wrestling and..." She sat her mitted hands down on the kitchenette table to stare the junior scientist in the face. "I didn't know the little shit had just cooked something and the stove burner still hot. I put my hands down and well...yeah." Pet forced out a smile, seeing Grant square his eyes down on her through her peripheral vision. "I burnt my hands."

"Ouch." Billy grimaced at the thought as Pet nodded.

"I didn't tickle." She sat the skillet in the sink and began rinsing it out for scrambled eggs, next.

A knock came at the trailer door, Derek popping his head in. "Mind if I come in?" After being motioned in by the senior occupant of the trailer, he strode in and joined Pet by the sink. "What's with the mitts?"

The hybrid's breath caught in her chest in fear. She stopped in washing the skillet to face the man in hopes of him catching on to her plan. "Its because I burnt my hands last night. _Remember?_"

Derek could see a certain look in her eye and tone in her voice and furrowed his brow in confusion. He wasn't quiet sure what the woman was getting at but knew to just nod and go along with it. "Yeah. Damn how that sucked..." Good. He caught on. Grant shook his head and buried his face in his hand. Poor Billy. If only he knew.

* * *

For the next couple days, Derek couldn't help but tease and annoy Pet as much as possible. Because of her hurt hands, she couldn't retaliate by slapping or hitting him. Didn't mean she couldn't get back at him in some other way. After a shower and when he least expected it, she tackled him and bit down on his shoulder. It took both Muldoon and Terrence to pry the pissed off hybrid, leaving Derek on the floor grabbing at this shoulder and cussing rather loudly.

Neither two said much to each other the next few days afterwards, several volunteers at the excavation noticing this. It wasn't like the two to be so quiet and cold shoulder of the other. They had to admit, though, despite the awkwardness around the two at least the dig site was moderately quieter. Maybe now, work could get done faster.

After a couple weeks and Pet constantly wearing bandages on her hands, he knew there was something else going on other than her burning her hands that one time. Supposedly. Surely by now the burns would've healed. He decided he'd confront her about it as well as few other things. She wasn't telling him something and it was beginning to bother him quiet a bit. All he had done since starting to see her was be honest. Maybe his assumptions were wrong and she was being open about everything. Only one way to find out.

Evening came around and with it, light showers. The temperatures were already getting cool and the rain was sure to bring more cooler temperatures. Not like he was complaining. He liked the cool temperatures as it made it easier to work. He could always put more clothes on to stay warm but could only take off so much to stay cool.

Billy knocked on Quarantine's door and waited for an answer. He could hear movement inside which meant someone was there. Someone was always there, it seemed. He was about to knock again when the front door swung open, almost knocking him off the concrete stairs. Terrence grimaced. "Sorry. Something I can help you with?"

"Yeah, where's Nica? I wanted to talk to her about something."

Terrence frowned. "Uh...Yeah she's around. She can't talk right now, though." Billy arched a brow in curiosity. "She's sick and sleeping at the moment."

"Sick? She eat something bad or-"

"Its nothing like that. Its just a head cold. Nothing serious, but she took some meds a little while ago to try and help take the edge off the symptoms. I'll let her know you stopped, by though." Terrence smiled and gently shut the door, leaving the junior scientist a bit annoyed outside.

Inside the trailer, Pet laid face down on her bed and on top of her covers with a cool, wet rag over her brow. Her eyes were cracked open and staring down her nose to where the end of a thermometer could be seen. On the other end of it was Muldoon waiting for the small object to beep. Once it did, he extracted it from her mouth to look at the temperature reading.

"95 degrees. Looks like that fever reducer is starting to kick in."

Pet grumbled. "I wish the pain killer would hurry up and kick in, too."

"You've already had more than the recommended dose. Any more and you'll end up in a coma." The man wiped off the end of the thermometer and stuck back in its case.

Terrence peered into the bedroom. "Your boy toy just stopped by. Said he wanted to talk to you about something, later."

Behind him, the trailer door opened to reveal Derek carrying several grocery bags over his arms and in his hands. He said them down on the cabinet and started rummaging around in one of them to get a bottle of apple cranberry juice. Since it was no longer cold, he decided to pour it over ice. A minute later, he brought it to the sick hybrid.

She happily took the cup and began sipping on the tasty liquid. Derek scoffed. "Don't think this means I forgive you for biting the hell out of my neck." He cocked her a smile and got up, leaving the room.

Moments later, the cup was drained. Muldoon really hated that slurping noise and took the cup from her, setting it on the night stand. Too weary to fight back or argue, the woman just laid there, sighing.

By Thursday, Pet was feeling much better though not completely out of it. Her body still ached and her head ached a little bit. After all the sweating she had done, she was incredibly thirsty and had already drank half a gallon of water in just the couple hours since being up. Though she was advised by her trailer bunk mates to take it easy and rest, she thought she felt well enough to pay Billy a visit. After all, he had been making frequent visits to the trailer to check on her.

Pet found him hunched over the dig site and bit out a weak smile when meeting his off put gaze. He dropped his tools on the spot and got up, unintentionally blowing off what a volunteer worker was telling him. The junior scientist was at the hybrid's side in a blink and for a moment, had forgotten what he was wanting to talk to her about after the past couple days of her being sick. Then he saw them; her hands. They were not bandaged and looking _far_ from being burned. They looked more like something had bit her for fading bruises shining a greenish yellow around puncture stared back.

Billy pointed to her hands. "What happened?" Pet took one look at her hands and mentally kicked herself in the backside for forgetting to re-wrap them. "Did a dog bite you?"

He tried to reach for one to see if she was okay, but she defensively jerked her hand back. "It's nothing..."

"Excuse me? Nothing? I wouldn't call _that_ nothing."

Pet rolled her eyes and groaned. "You sound like Alan."

"Is that why you've been keeping your hands wrapped up?" He visually studied the woman with a scrutinizing gaze. "You never burned yourself, did you? It was the Mattis dog wasn't it? That German Sheppard... it bit you didn't it?"

"No" Pet breathed out. "I wasn't bit, okay?" She met his concerned blue eyes. "I wouldn't expect you to understand."

Billy planted his hands on his hips. Now was as good a time as ever to crack the ice on what had been bothering him. "Is this to go along with what you haven't been telling me this whole time?" The woman's expression shifted into speechless horror. Her lips parted to say words, but any and all thoughts were stopped in her mouth before being spoken out loud. "You've been keeping something from me and I'd like to know what. I understand we all have our secrets and that's fine. But this...This feels almost game breaking, Veronica. There's something you're not telling me and I'd like to know what."

Pet frowned and swallowed the knot of nerves in her throat. "What if its something I don't feel comfortable telling you just yet?"

Billy ran his hands over his face in frustration. "We've been friends for what.. a couple months now and seeing each other for about 2 weeks? If we can't be honest with each other after this long then its not going to work out."

"Billy, please don't do this..." the hybrid pleaded. "I like you and don't want to ruin anything between us by-"

"Then talk to me, Nica! I like you too and want this to work out, but how can we when we _don't talk_..."

The two people stood there a minute, starting deeply at the other before Pet nodded in agreement. "Alright. You want to know what I'm not telling you? Fine. But you probably won't like what you see." She grabbed him by the hand, ignoring the pain tightly gripping her by the palm, and guided him towards the office trailer. "Alan should be in the office working, right?"

"Yeah, so..."

"Good." Without knocking or asking for an invite inside, she barged inside with Billy in tow and locked the door behind her.

Grant looked up from the clipboard of charts and graphs in his hands to see the two people. "What's this about?" He had a feeling he was about to get side swiped with a worse case scenario.

"We need to talk" Pet answered, kneeling down to untie her boots.


	127. Spilling the Beans

**127 - Spilling the Beans**

He couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Didn't even know what to say. All Billy could do was sit there, head between his propped up hands and stare. Though the story of everything had been told in thorough detail, he was still having a difficult time accepting it. A half human, half raptor hybrid. _What the hell?_ This was definitely something from a seriously screwed up science fiction movie or one of those whacked out stories from some psycho distorted writer. But nope. This was real and in his face. Literally. Standing but not three feet from him was the walking proof that InGen was a lot more dark than he gave credit for.

Pet looked to Grant, both people wearing similar expressions reflecting 'figures'. The woman tilted her head at the junior scientist, washed of all color in the face, and questioned. "Billy? Are you still on Earth?"

The addressed man slowly exhaled a breath he had been holding and slid his hands from his head, never blinking or looking away from the sickle clawed feet. "Uh.." was all he could answer with while shaking his head uncertainly.

Grant leaned back where he sat at the dining table and cocked a smile at his protégé. "Trust me, I felt the same way when I found out, though the situation was _a lot_ different."

Pet nodded. "Yeah, it was raining."

The paleontologist cut his eyes down on the woman. "That's not what I was talking about."

"Oh you mean that it was a bit chilly, too? Well for me, anyway. Probably not for you or any other regular person, but definitely for me."

Grant sighed and shook his head. "Whatever." He got up and went to the fridge, getting a bottle of water for the younger man. "Here. It'll help."

Billy mindlessly reached for the bottle and twisted off the top as though acting in muscle memory. It was beginning to worry Pet. Was he going to be alright? Or sick? "Billy?" She slowly sat down next to him, startling him and causing him to leap to his feet. "Right. I get it." The hybrid stood up, hands in the air in surrender as she walked to the office trailer's door. "I'll just leave you to your-"

"No wait" he interrupted, causing Pet to freeze in mid step. She turned to examine the man, him still trying to recompose himself. "Who else knows?"

"Hmm... quiet a few? Excluding those I knew at the zoo in Kenya and those on the islands, roughly about...9? Maybe 10? Yeah I think 10..." She began whispering names under her breath while counting on her fingers. "Alan, Ellie, Ian...of course Robert, Derek, Terrence...Then there's Sarah, Kelly, Roland, Dr. Burke...Oh and Nick. Almost forgot about him."

Grant arched a brow at her. "You're forgetting Tim and Lexi."

"Oh yeah! That's 13. Well now 14, with you." She gestured to Billy. "John Hammond would've been 15, but yeah..." Pet lowered her head in brief sadness.

Billy sat back down on the couch and returned his head to between his propped up hands. "I wasn't expecting this. I thought there was something you weren't telling, but I thought it'd be something like you had a kid or some terminal illness."

Pet bit her lips together in a frown. "I do have an illness."

Even Grant perked his head up to stare at the hybrid in bewilderment. "What?"

The woman nodded her head. "Mhm. Remember that sick Triceratops? And the Brachiosaur with the head cold? The raptor DNA used to create me had to have been sick when bitten by the mosquito. When that DNA was used to create me, the illness was recreated with it. Now it's a part of me and flares up roughly once every three to three and a half months."

Billy studied the woman behind a wrinkled brow. "Wait a minute, you were just sick with a head cold..."

Again, Pet nodded. "Yeah, and still am, though not as bad as a couple days ago." She watched the man recoil a bit. "Don't worry, its not contagious. Well, its possible it can be transmitted through bodily fluids like saliva and whatnot, but hasn't been tested. Robert hasn't gotten sick, yet, and I don't know how many times I coughed, sneezed and snot all over him when I was a kid." She shrugged, smiling indecisively.

"Lovely" Billy flatly stated.

Pet sat down on the floor and began putting her shoes and socks back on. Right back to the sickle claw the junior scientist's eyes went, a shiver running down his spine. He suddenly felt uneasy being around the hybrid and felt guilty for it. She hadn't been an issue this whole time that he had noticed. Why should things change now? A part of him still felt unnerved around her and knew it would take some time working over it.

Once the last lace was tied, Pet stood up and dusted off the back of her shorts. "Whatever your decision is about continuing on from here or not, I completely understand and respect that. Now respect this...I took a great, great chance of telling you everything. For all I know, you could running off and telling who knows whoever about me. Don't. InGen has been wanting me dead since the day I was created. If it wasn't for John and Robert protecting me up until the incident with Jurassic Park, I'd already be dead. Too many people have put their lives and everything else on the line to protect me. Don't go fucking it up by blowing the lid off this. If InGen finds out I'm here, they wont hesitate to send a third team to come hunt me down."

Billy's eyes widened and brow arch. "A third?"

"Yes, a third. Two teams were already sent to the islands to hunt me down. Thanks to Terrence, the first team didn't find me and thanks to Robert and Derek, the second team didn't succeed, much, either."

Grant cocked a smile. "It's been my understanding a T-Rex had a play in that..."

"Perhaps... but it was Robert's bullet between the lead hunter's eyes that finally ended it all."

Billy was even more at a loss of what to think. "You mean that tall guy killed someone?"

The hybrid looked at the man like he had lost his mind. "Yeah. And Derek. And me. Well..." Pet shrugged. "Technically I killed-" She stopped, seeing the man rush to the bathroom and become ill. She looked to Grant staring off in the direction of the bathroom. "Was it something I said?"

The Dr smirked at the hybrid. "A little too much information over load. One thing at a time, alright? Some people require baby steps..."

Pet shrugged. "I'll just leave you two alone to discuss some stuff. I'll be around should he want to talk."

Grant nodded, "Good idea," and slid on his hat he had sitting on the kitchenette bar.

That look in his eye made the hair on the hybrid's neck stand on end and a streak of something bad course through her veins. He watched the hybrid leave the trailer and close the door behind her, their eyes meeting for a brief second before the door shut all the way.


	128. More Surprising News

**128 - More Surprising News**

"So," Derek began, quickening his steps a bit to match Pet's strides. "Rumor has it you spilled the beans to your boy toy about everything."

Two days had passed since, the hybrid not hearing much from Billy afterwards. "Yeah. And?"

"And that Billy wussed out and spilled his own beans all over Grant's bathroom." The comment brought a chuckle from the woman.

"Maybe I told a little too much." The two people met amused stares, Derek shrugging. "I don't know, though. Since then, he hasn't said much so don't expect him around for the next poker night. Something tells me that's yet another doomed relationship."

Derek wrapped an arm around the woman's shoulders as they made their way to the fossil site to start their work for the day. "Keep this up and one might think you're a normal person. You're not trying to be a _real_ girl are you?" Pet smacked the man on the back of the head, shaking her head and smiling.

They arrived to the dig looking a little too close for Billy's comfort. The thought of everything he had been told a couple days ago resurfaced and grimaced. Or maybe that was because a chunk of rock was digging into his elbow. Either way, he readjusted how he was laying on the ground and nervously cleared his throat. The woman gave him a gentle smile while she went to the table containing different types of tools. She instantly went for her favorites which were a metal pick and a tooth brush. Content, she got situated on her belly before the fossil and begin to work. Neither her nor Billy said a word to the other, though several back and forth uncertain glances were exchanged.

A couple hours later, their working was disrupted by the blaring of a familiar vehicle's horn. Pet poked her dust patched face upwards to see Ellie had arrived. A broad smile stretched across her face. "Yea! Ellie's back!"

Derek stated under his breath, "Hell yeah! Eye candy!" He was quick to be the first up off the ground and over to the paleobotonist's vehicle. "Welcome back, Dr. Sattler!"

Ellie smiled confusingly as the man opened her driver's side door and offering her a hand out. "I wasn't expecting this, but okay..." She accepted, Derek noticing what looked like an engagement ring on her left hand's ring finger.

Pet greeted the woman, them hugging in a friendly embrace. "Its good to see you again!" Even she noticed the shiny piece of jewelry. "Oh la la what's this?"

"I'm getting married" Ellie shyly stated and just in time for an arriving Grant to hear. The news stopped him dead in his tracks. That wasn't the first thing he was expecting to hear and it damn near destroyed him. She could see the self explanatory look pass over the man's face and bit out a sympathetic frown. "Mark proposed this past weekend. I wanted to tell you over the phone, but felt it better in person."

Grant fought with words he thought would be convincing enough of relaying his happiness for her. "That's great, Ellie. I'm happy for you." He wasn't fooling anyone. Everyone present could feel the vibe of unease radiating off him. "Is that all you came for or were you going to be sticking around for a bit?"

"Actually," Ellie shoved her hands in her pockets to hide the ring from her good friend's view. "I planned on sticking around for a bit."

Grant peered over Ellie's shoulder and to her SUV, seeing her travel trailer not there. "Where's you Coleman?"

"In the shop. A tree branch fell on it night before last so it was needing some repairs."

Derek winced. "No one was inside, I hope..."

"No, thankfully not. It was sitting where it usually does." Ellie shrugged. "I'm sort of looking at getting rid of it, actually."

Billy spoke up. "Really? How much do you want for it?" There was a hint of excitement in his voice. Not that he minded sharing a trailer with his boss, but having his own space was nicer.

"Um, say maybe $8,000? It's only a couple years old and the only time I've ever used it was when staying down here."

The junior scientist wrinkled his nose and squinted an eye a bit at the price. "That's a bit steep for me, at the moment. I'll have to think on it, though, if that's alright."

"Oh sure." Ellie smiled and waved a hand in the air. "It'll at least be a couple months before I actually look at selling it publicly."

As the three people continued to talk, Pet nonchalantly backed out of the scene without a word. Head low, she trudged back to the dig site and continued to work. Minutes went by before her absence was noticed, Derek being the one to realize this first. His dark eyes scanned the excavation before he found her back at the fossil and quietly working. He retook his spot next to her and continued working as well, knowing there was something on the hybrid's mind she wasn't telling him.

The man gently nudged the woman in the side. "Want to talk about it?"

"There's nothing to talk about." Pet continued scratching away at a dirt chunk lumped onto one of the fossil's ribs.

"Uh huh" Derek stated, keeping an eye on her. "Its about pretty boy, isn't it?"

"No" she barked, glaring at the man. "Its nothing, okay?"

"Nothing... right. Nothing isn't agitated or aggressive." Derek scoffed out.

Seconds dragged on into minutes, Pet sighing and laying down her pick. "I knew I should've kept my mouth shut."

"I knew it!" Derek smirked at the woman. "I knew there was something bothering you and that _it was_ because of pretty boy!"

"Shut up" Pet spat. "Why don't you go play with a pack of wild boar or maybe go piss off that German Sheppard again."

"I so totally showed that dog who's boss." His smile widened when Pet face palmed. "So you're wanting pork tonight, huh?" Derek got up and dusted off his pants. "I can do that. Be back in a bit."

The hybrid watched him walk away and shook her head. She didn't really think he'd take her seriously, though she couldn't really be surprised if he did. Less than an hour later, Pet was nose deep back in working and zoned out in it, too. Usually she didn't work on Saturdays, but given the weight of everything on her mind, she needed something to do to lessen it.

A shadow crawled across the ground and over the area she was working. Pet grumbled at the shadow blocking the sun and hung her head. "Damn it Derek, will you move your ass out of the sun so I can continue?" She glared over her shoulder to see Billy instead. "Oh. I'm sorry, I-"

"Its fine" he chuckled out and knelt down next to her where Derek had been. "Looks like you've gotten a bit done. You've already gotten the top surface of the rib completely exposed."

Pet nodded. "Yup. Now to decide if I want to keep working on it or move down the skeleton a bit to try and do the same with what I can."

"Alan likes to have the surface as revealed as possible so he can visually see where everything is. From there comes the digging up piece by piece." He reached over her arm to get a toothbrush she had been using and dusted off she had been picking away dirt.

"How long does it usually take to dig one of these things out?"

"A fossil this size? Depends, really, on the available manpower, funding amounts and how favorable the weather is. The last one took roughly 7 years and that was with Mr. Hammond's funding. So far, we've been working on this one 2 and a half years."

"Ah." Pet visually examined the parts of the fossil that was visible, which was most of it, and nodded. "Meaning this will take a while..."

"Yeah." The two people exchanged smiles and laughed, Billy laying down to work along side the hybrid.

Pet chewed at her bottom lip nervously. "Hey, uh... I'm sorry about the other day. I didn't mean to scare you or freak you out."

"Its fine." The man remained focused on working rather than visually acknowledge the woman.

"For what its worth, it was self defense reasons and because they were probably going to kill Robert and Derek." She watched the junior scientist pause in his brushing to drum a finger in thought on its handle. She expected him to say nothing, but he didn't. "I understand if you want to...I don't know... break up?"

Billy lightly laughed. "I don't want to break up, Nica." He met her worried laden eyes. "I just wasn't expecting to hear my girlfriend is a human raptor mix. I mean, its not everyday I get told something like that."

Pet awkwardly bit out a smile. "I'm sorry."

The man genuinely smiled. "Don't be" and leaned in to gently kiss her. "I'm not."


	129. Underlying Issues

**Ripped this chapter off of a side-side alternate story segment. Hopefully I changed all the names around and fixed all the dialogue to reflect the main story. Otherwise, it could be a bit embarrassing...**

* * *

**129 - Underlying Issues**

"This is bullshit" Pet raged, pulling the comforter blanket tighter around her shoulders. She was standing in the doorway of Quarantine and looking out at the winter wonderland that had become Grant's excavation. Snow blanketed the usually dusty ground as frozen over puddles of ice glistened in the sun. The past couple months had gotten cold and she had heard mention of it snowing once in a while, but not like this.

Derek peeked over the hybrid's shoulder while sipping on a cup of hot coffee. He had invited himself over for breakfast at Grant's trailer, never mind Pet asking him to stay away. "No, snow." Pet glanced over her shoulder and towards her friend. "You said 'this is bullshit'. It's not bullshit, Pet. It's snow. Shit is brown...that, out there, is white. It's snow."

He avoided a hand being swung at him and laughed, scampering out of her reach. "Keep it up, you little shit, and I'll tear your ass a new one!"

"Ohh" he took another drink of his coffee and sat the mug down, already knowing what was going to happen before saying his next choice of words. "When can we start?" Sure enough, Pet came charging at him and he ran into Billy's room, slamming the door behind him and locking it. Grant sat on the couch and sighed, continuing to watch the news on the wall mounted TV.

The hybrid, comforter and all, sat down next to Billy at the dining table and nestled up next to him. "Sometimes I'm so tempted to take him out behind Quarantine and rid of him like a sick dog... but that would be a waste of a good bullet. Ammo is getting to be expensive, lately."

"There's always your old .22. The ammo is fairly cheap enough, still." The man had to reposition himself beside the woman and wrapped an arm around where he figured her waist to be.

The hybrid's face contorted in mild disgust. "The .22? _Really?_ Do you know how many bullets it would take before finally offing him?"

"I didn't say it'd be clean or easy on him." The two people met stares, Pet shrugging.

"I heard that" Derek yelled from within Billy's room. The two people at the table laughed to themselves. Derek unlocked the door and gradually poked his head out into the living area to find the two people curled up at the table. His dark eyes looked over to his still steaming cup of coffee and went over to it, sniffing it. "What did you put in my coffee, Pet?"

"Nothing."

The bounty hunter looked skeptically to the hybrid. He thought back on the last time he had left a drink unattended. Terrence had slipped a laxative when his back was turned. Not wanting a repeat, he dumped out the cup to make another fresh one. "I don't believe you. You and a couple others who shall not be named have a tendency of being cruel."

She scoffed. "And you're not? You swapped out the rest of my shampoo with hair bleach! I had to dye my hair to not look like an idiot!"

"You put icy hot in my boxers!"

"You put icy hot in my bra!"

Derek giggled, Billy cutting in with "I didn't need to hear that."

Derek continued. "What about the time you shook up my soda can before I had a chance to open it? Then handed it to me all nice and sweet like?...Only to find out what you'd done!"

The hybrid pointed a fingers at the man. "That was pay back for shaking up my beer!"

"Hey, you started it by taking the firing pin out of my pistol! Took me a minute to figure out why the bullets wouldn't fire..."

"Sounds like a performance issue" Pet sneered.

Grant bellowed out. "Will you two shut up? It just never stops between you two, does it? You two have only been here four months and all its been is your petty bickering!"

The other three people were taken back by the man's out burst, Pet looking a bit hurt. "But its all meant in good fun..."

"Good fun is once in a while. Not multiple times a day, every day!" Grant turned off the TV and got to his feet. All three people watched the man disappear into his bedroom and lock the door.

Pet frowned and got up, going over to the coffee pot to pour her a cup, too. Derek wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. "For what it's worth, I still love you." He then gave her a playful swat on the backside when she walked away. In exchange, the woman gave him a slap on the shoulder that stung a little bit. "So feisty!"

* * *

Less than an hour later, certain people from the dig site were driving into town. By now, half of the snow had thawed, making the roads a little bit drivable. Grant was driving the excavation's brown truck with Pet beside him while Derek drove the Jeep with Muldoon in the passenger side and Billy and Terrence in the back seat. Derek kept a close watch on the brown truck in the rear view mirror after Pet had made mention of wanting to talk to Grant in private.

Neither two had said anything since the dig site. Pet was in an inner conflict on what to say, but wasn't sure how to address the issue. Finally she spoke, questioning, "Are you going to continue giving me the cold shoulder all day?" Grant didn't answer when shooting the woman with an acidic gaze instead. She rolled her attention back out the passenger window, watching the patches of snow in the highway ditches streak past in a white blur.

The man heavily sighed. He knew he couldn't continue ignoring the underlying issue that constantly bugged him forever. "For what it's worth, I don't like nor approve of how Derek treats or talks to you. Whether a hybrid tomboy or not, you're still a woman and should be treated like a lady...not an object."

"He doesn't treat me like an object, Alan" Pet sighed out.

"Oh he doesn't? The way he ogles you with your back turned? Talks to you in a rather provocative tone?" They met gazes a moment, the man arching his brow in question. "Hmm?"

Pet shook her head. "Its a game with him. He started it when we first got here in an attempt to ease my stress and make me laugh. I've always been so worried that InGen will find me."

"He needs to respect you and stop butting in and complicating things..."

"And he does. The whole respect thing, that is." The young woman studied the man intently.

Grant wasn't satisfied with the answer. "If he respected you then he wouldn't be constantly egging reactions from you in a disapproving manner."

"Whatever" Pet huffed, looking back out of the window. Once again, a deafening silence filled the truck's cab, Grant sighing and pulling over onto the shoulder. "What the hell are you doing?"

The man put the truck into neutral and set the emergency break to look at the woman. "We're not going anywhere until we talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about, Alan! You and I have our different opinions! What's there to talk about?"

Ahead of them, Derek could see them pull over in the Jeep rearview mirror. "Uh oh" he stated and began slowing down.

Muldoon looked to his nephew to see his dark eyed gaze focused on the rear view mirror. The older man glanced back, causing the other two Jeep's occupants to do the same. "What are they doing?"

In the Ford truck, Grant unbuckled to both show he was being serious as well as allow himself to better turn to face the flustered woman. "Grow up, Veronica, and open your damn eyes! Stop being so naive! Derek's little fun and games are not so much a fun and game. He has no respect for anyone but himself! He desires you and will ruin whatever relationship you're in just to have you for himself!"

"He's not the one ruining my relationships, Alan! I was happy with you until _you_ ruined it! You have _no idea_ the relationship Derek and I have! He risked his life to come rescue me off that island! He gave up his life, job and apartment in San Francisco to move to the dig site to help keep watch over me. He didn't have to do _any of that_ for me. He's done more for me than I could _ever_ ask of _anyone_! So fine, sit there and go on about his disrespectful and provocative comments. Deep down, yeah he cares and is concerned for my well being but don't _ever_ say he's out to ruin whatever relationship I'm in for himself. As much as he disliked Billy at the time, he still respected me by _not_ saying or doing anything and funny how I'm still in that relationship! Yeah sure there's the occasional jokes, but that's all they are. Jokes!"

A knock on the glass behind Pet made her turn around, both people within the truck not immediately realizing the Jeep had pulled over, too. The hybrid looked back to see Derek stare back, her snorting. He questioned, "Everything alright?"

Pet gave Grant a sour look and unbuckled. "You two need to talk this out between yourselves" and opened the truck, getting out. She didn't say a thing to Derek when going to the Jeep and getting in where Derek had been sitting.

Muldoon gave the hybrid a panicked stare. "Where's Derek?"

"Riding with Alan" she snorted and buckled up, putting the Jeep in gear.

Terrence grimaced. "You're going to drive?!"

Pet growled a hiss. "Try and stop me." She pulled away, leaving the brown truck behind.

Derek watched the Jeep's red form become distant and frowned. Grant snapped, "Get in the damn truck. You're letting out all the hot air."


	130. The Extent of Pet's Patience

**Went back and fixed a few typos. Wasn't aware there were so many...**

* * *

**130 - The Extent of Pet's Patience**

The two vehicles pulled up to the bar and grill they planned to dine at, them being lead to their usual tables off in the back corner. Two tables had to be joined together to fit the entirety of the group as they sat down, menus being handed to them by the waitress. She was an older woman, a few years younger than Grant, and always seemed to have her eyes on the lead paleontologist. He chose to ignore the unwanted infatuation every time she came around, preferring to keep whatever conversations between them strictly to the weather or what the daily special was.

He hoped she'd eventually get the message, but apparently not as she leaned down to steal a hug. "How's the dig site going, Dr. Grant?"

The man grumbled. "Its snowy" and flipped the menu to the lunch section.

"It is a bit chilly, isn't it?" She nudged him in the shoulder. "Need to make sure you stay nice and warm so you don't get sick." She shot him a wink.

Pet, who just so happened to be seated next to the paleontologist, commented when resting a hand on his leg. "Oh don't worry, sweetie, I'll make sure he stays real nice and warm."

The waitress shot the younger woman a fake smile mixed in with a venomous glare and clicked the top of her pen to start taking orders. "What can I get everyone to drink?"

Pet spoke, seeing how the waitress's attention was still on her. "I'll have a beer, Budweiser to be exact. Bottle. And don't bother opening it...I'll do it myself."

Everyone present, both friends and waitress, knew why she asked for it to be unopened. Last time she had ordered a soda, she had found a fly frozen in a piece of ice. Since then, she had stopped ordering open drinks from any restaurant as she chose to either bring her own or order an unopened beer. Thanks to Derek having connections in making very realistic false IDs, Pet was able to show it for proof of legal age.

The waitress sneered again and jotted down the order. After everyone placed their orders, the waitress left. The hybrid verbally jabbed, "You're welcome" to Grant.

Derek, seated across the table and a couple seats down, questioned the woman. "A little early to be drinking isn't it, Pet? It's only 11:30 AM..."

The hybrid snorted and got up. "I'm going to the lady's room. I'll be back in a minute..." She waited for a come back from the bounty hunter but it never came.

In her walking to the bathroom, a man seated at the bar and obviously drunk, stated. "Hey, hey! There's my little bone digger girl!"

It was already well known to most of the dig site volunteers known to visit the place that this particular drunk had taken an interest in the hybrid. He gave her a sharp smack on the ass, drawing a high level of ire from the excavators at the table. Muldoon had leapt to his feet, followed by Derek and Terrence.

Billy snorted a laugh. "This isn't going to be good."

Before the three angered men could come to Pet's aide, she had forcefully punched the man with all the repressed anger she had been carrying and sent the drunk tumbling off the bar stool and onto the ground. She snorted and stepped over the now unconscious man in her proceeding to go to the restroom.

Terrence laughed out loud. "K.O!"

Derek looked to the knocked out drunk. "I bet he won't be doing that again!"

The bar tender rushed around to the fallen patron and took one look at him before looking to the three men nearby. "Normally people get kicked out for causing trouble, like physical violence, but in this case...I think its him who caused the trouble." He waved a younger man over, who had been cleaning up a table, to assist them as they carried the man outside.

The waitress came into view with a tray full of drinks and huffed a laugh at the unconscious drunk being carried out. "Looks like he drank himself under, again."

Derek sat back down, shaking his head. "Nope. That would be because he smacked our lady friend on the ass. She doesn't take too well to that from strangers, especially drunk ones."

Drinks were passed out and Pet returned to the table just in time to order her food. No need to look at the menu. She already knew what she wanted. "I'll take the chicken and gravy over rice, please." Derek ordered the exact thing, smiling at the hybrid. "Plagiarizer... "

"You didn't copyright it so I can _utilize_ it if I want."

"I hope you choke you on your _utilizing_" she growled back.

"What? You want to utilize me?" Derek wiggled his brows at the woman seated across the table from him.

Pet glared at the bounty hunter in warning. "Want to be knocked out, next?"

Derek shyly, but deviously smiled. "Foreplay in public? Pet, for shame!"

Muldoon smacked his nephew upside the back of the head, grumbling. "When will you ever learn to shut your damn mouth?"

Grant sighed. "That's what I've been wondering..."

Derek appeared offended, though everyone knew better. "_What!?_ I'm a bounty hunter and I have certain skills that Pet can utilize like tackling people...maybe taking care of that drunk should he ever try anything again..."

Pet growled, drumming her fingers on the table top. "You're not helping your situation."


	131. Masrani Global Corporation

**And so it begins... My apologies if I got any information wrong regarding the contents of this chapter. I did some reading up on JP wiki to get what information I did. Hopefully its not too off. Seeing how there was no mentioned date regarding InGen being bought out, I sort of used my imagination and came up with something... sort of...**

* * *

**131 - Masrani Global Corporation**

November drug on into December, followed by January and finally February. The cold had taken its toll on Pet as she mostly stayed indoors and bundled up beneath a heating blanket. The only times she dared venture in the cold temperatures was when her illness flared up and she wanted to cool off. Even then, she inadvertently made herself worse. She had gone over to a snow drift and laid down in it, not immediately feeling the cold until every layer of her clothes were soaked throughout. By then, the wet cold had set in on her body. The hybrid had found herself feeling feint and it took her quite some time to get over it. Thank goodness for that heating blanket Ellie got her for Christmas.

Now, being late February, the temperatures that day seemed well enough. They were in the 50s versus the 20s and 30s they had been in previously. Only thing that made the day feel crappy was the thick grey clouds lingering above the Ft. Peck Lake area. Though the clouds threatened rain and Pet smelling it in the air, it never rained.

March, April and now May. Rain, rain and more rain. And here Pet thought the islands got a lot of rain...

* * *

Skin flake after skin flake hit the trash can sat before the couch. Pet peeled off another chunk and frowned. Sitting next to her and watching her over a heaping bowl of chocolate pebble cereal was Derek. "Do you really have to do that right here?"

The hybrid snorted. "I was sitting here first before you came to join me."

Terrence nodded, shoving a bit of waffles into his mouth. "This is true."

Derek scooped up a big bite of cereal, ignoring the small pieces of falling off the spoon and onto the floor. "Damn it, Derek! Its shit like that is how we get ants!" Pet looked at the mess around his feet. "You're cleaning that up, just so you know."

"Cween whut uwp" he questioned through his mouthful of breakfast.

"Dare I remind you what happened last week when you ate chips in your bed? All those ants were drawn to the crumbs." Pet smiled wickedly. "How are all those bites, by the way, hmm?"

Terrence snickered. Derek swallowed his mouthful and glared at Pet. "That's not funny..."

"That's why you need to clean your messes..." She peeled off another skin flake, sneering at the man.

"You look like you have the creeping flesh rot."

"And you looked like you had some other type of rot on your ass after all those ants had their way with you" Pet giggled, only to burst into laugher when the man got up and went to the bunk room, bowl in hand.

The trailer door opened, it being Billy. "Hey babe" he stated, eyes staring straight at the molting hybrid. "You need to come check out the morning news. I think you'll want to see this."

Without bothering with socks, Pet slid on her boots and followed the other back to the trailer he shared with Grant. She went inside and looked to the TV showing the national news. The woman's attention instantly went to the bottom of the screen where large letters read, 'InGen Integrates with Masrani Corporation.' Meanwhile, detailing the integration were two news broadcasters.

"This looks to be a great move on InGen's part" stated one broadcaster, a brunette woman. "Especially given their unfortunate history, such as with the San Diego Incident."

The male broadcaster of African American descent, continued. "We were unable to get in contact with InGen's CEO, Jonathon Stevens, on his thoughts about the matter but we were able to meet with Simon Masrani, CEO of Masrani Global Corporation."

The screen then shifted over to show a man from India roughly in his mid thirties smiling while being interviewed by the brunette news anchor. "Mr. Masrani, now that you've successfully acquired InGen and have integrated it with your company, what are your immediate plans?"

"My main goal after acquiring InGen is to fulfill John Hammond's dream." The smile on the man's face broadened.

Just as his became bigger, Pet's frown sunk even more. "Ah shit" she mumbled.

Billy looked from a off put Grant and over to the hybrid. "You don't think they're going to try and make another park, do you?"

"I sure as hell hope not." Pet leaned against the kitchen cabinet. "Surely this new guy...whoever he is...has read all the files and reports and will learn from InGen's mistake before its too late."

Grant heaved a sigh and ran a hand through is hair. "Well what other 'big dream' did Hammond have other than to recreate dinosaurs?"

All three people fell quiet and studied the other in debate. They could only hope history wasn't about to repeat its self.

* * *

That was three days ago. Simon Masrani adjusted his smoky grey suit before taking a seat behind his polished Mahogany office desk. On top of it were two stacks of folders. One stack was the usual weekly reports from his oil industry while the second stack offered much more enticement. Just as he had requested of his secretary the day before, all the files once belonging to InGen and pertaining to Jurassic Park sat in a stack at the corner of his desk. A scheming smile stretched across the man's goateed face.

He pushed aside the oil reports and instantly starting thumbing through the array of files until one regarding Dr. Henry Wu caught his fancy. Simon visually scrolled over reports of the genius geneticist's involvement with Jurassic Park and his involvement with the animals themselves. He had been impressed with the Dr's latest achievement of creating the hybrid plant, _Karacosis wutansis_ and the more he read on about this man's work with InGen only made him an extremely desired mind to add into the grand scheme of things.

Simon picked up his office phone and paged his secretary. "Locate the contact information for geneticist Dr. Henry Wu." He hung up the phone and closed the file, allowing himself to get lost in the collection of boyish fantasies he sought to make real.


	132. Pet Redacted

**132 - Pet Redacted **

For the past 15 minutes, Pet hadn't said a word. Derek would occasionally look over at the hybrid frantically reading and scrolling through articles she had found on the internet using the nearest town's public library. Every since Simon Masrani had taken over InGen, all the woman could go on about was wanting to find out more about the man. Though she didn't state it, everyone thought it and it was her trying to find the answer to everyone's burning question; was the man trying to recreate another dinosaur themed amusement park? Much to her dissatisfaction, she found nothing. Whatever his goal was, she wasn't finding it anywhere.

Pet looked over to her good friend and leaned in to whisper to him. "Any way you can get in contact with that person who knows a person inside InGen to find out what's going on?"

"Been there, tried that" the man replied. He pressed out a regretful expression behind thinned lips and shrugged. "I did that yesterday right after watching the new recap. Sadly, my contact's contact knows nothing other than a big change is coming to InGen."

"Crap." Pet sighed and continued poking through the different pages addressing content related to Masrani. "There has to be more to this guy than what the internet is displaying..."

"Or maybe nothing..."

The woman glared at the man sitting next to her. "Really? Nothing...What other reason can you think of in buying a company specializing in genetics other than nothing?"

"Well you know that one guy wrote that book. Something, something Evolution and God's Concepts? Then he went and made that hybrid plant. Perhaps that's all this Maserati guy is wanting to do; create new plants and maybe clone extinct animals."

"Its Masrani, dumb ass, not Maserati." She smacked him upside the back of the head. "And I doubt a successful company based on oil and telecommunications would buy a genetics company to make new flowers and clone sheep."

"Who said it would be _just_ sheep? Never know...Maybe he'll try and recreate the extinct Tasmanian Tiger. Now that would be cool." He smiled boyishly.

"Right. So every other trigger happy hunter and poacher can go out there and blast it back into extinction?" Pet erased her current search topic and sat, tapping her finger on the mouse wheel in debate on how to reword her next search thought.

* * *

Simon rested his face in his hands propped up by the elbows on his office desk. It was already late at night. He had long removed his tie and unbuttoned the collar of his white button down shirt as his tan suit coat jacket hung on the back of his high back, padded chair. He had been going through the different folders as well as reading everything saved on disks and in folders saved on the company's computer drive. So much to read.

Meanwhile, the oil field reports had gone untouched as they had now been relocated to the floor beside his desk's trash can. Not that they weren't important. He was just more interested in reading and leaning from others' mistakes regarding Jurassic Park. Dennis Nedry was one file he had been lead to after reading John Hammon's initial report. And this is why background checks on employees placed in sensitive positions were needed. Not to mention, _not_ hiring someone who could potentially be a risk. Nedry screamed it all as far as caution went. Because of his tight financial issues, he could easily be bought off to do something dangerous for the right price.

Then there was always another park employee with a questionable past. Robert Muldoon. That man's file was just as colorful in reasons to _not_ be hired as Nedry's. Instead of financial issues, it was repeatable offensives in on the job alcohol abuse, piss poor attitude to fellow employees as well as a blatant disregard to follow his employer's orders.

Simon stopped in his current reviewing a file record on Garry Harding to think back on Muldoon's record. Come to think about it, he had never finished looking it over before having to break away for a board meeting. He closed Harding's file and sat it on top of one of the three stacks of folders to thumb through another for the sought after file. Finding it, he skimmed through what he had read to find where he had left off. Oh yes, how could he forget? Simon had stopped right at a nasty review of the game warden's on the job attitude written and sighed by Hammond himself. Reading the letter in full to himself, Simon came across the mention of I-10 HY and how Muldoon almost got fired because of it. What was this I-10 HY? He had seen something about this in a previous folder somewhere on his desk. Or was it in a file on the company's drive? Damn it! He was curious to know what this object of question was.

Simon spent the next 45 minutes digging through each folder both physical and in the company drive until he found it. It was on the computer named I-260102 0579. He clicked on it and brought up a file that was basically worthless. Almost all of the file's content's were blacked out. But why? What was so secretive about this thing to have information on it be redacted? He slimmed his gaze down on the computer screen and rested his chin in his hand. There was something about this file that wasn't supposed to be known. He scrolled down the file, though, eyes darting between the words that hadn't been blacked out. Nothing proved to be of use. No matter how many times he scrolled through the information and stared at the different words, he wasn't going to learn anything. Giving up on that for the moment, he resumed reviewing Muldoon's file.

The mention of the mysterious object was brought up again. Apparently, whatever it was, this man had taken a direct involvement with it. Was a project he oversaw at Hammond's little zoo? Was it an animal that Hammond had perhaps recreated or cloned, as his once healthy company had been known to do? Was it maybe the first dinosaur ever created? What was I-10 HY? After browsing through everything the file had to offer, Simon was a complete and utter disaster wrapped up in the enigma of whatever the hell HY was. One name he had come across in the file pertained to a geneticist named Albert Jacobs. Simon instantly went to the computer to search there for the scientist's file before attempting to comb through the mess on his desk.

What he found on the computer ended up in him eventually going through the files to find the appropriate one. He cracked it open and started going through it. A couple hours after crawling through lines of the man's information, Simon found mention of his little enigma I-10 HY and clenched his jaw in annoyance. Simon pulled up another screen on the computer that belonged to a personnel database regarding everyone working for InGen and typed in Jacobs's name.

"Ah hah!" Cheered the CEO. Dr. Albert Jacobs just so happened to still work for InGen. Looks like he and this particular Dr. were going to have to have a little chat.


	133. A Personal Quest

**Just to be honest, I have no idea the personalities Jurassic World's characters will have. For all I know, I could be going way out of character when writing about Masrani and if that's so, my sincerest apologies. I'm trying to stay as in character as possible and hope I have achieved that thus far. So, for now, until I see JW and its characters for myself, I'm just going by my imagination, here.**

* * *

**133 - A Personal Quest**

Dr. Jacobs sat as his desk and looked hungrily to his juicy hamburger seated before him, still in its wrapper. He was so hungry and couldn't wait anymore to eat. He was already having a late lunch due to the work load in the lab. Biting his lips together in anxiousness, he picked up the partially wrapped burger and was about to take a massive bite when his office phone rang. He hesitated, wondering if he should answer that or eat his lunch. After a moment of staring at the offending object and debating on answering it, he sighed and slammed down the burger. A splash of excessive mustard splashed onto his lab coat and he grumbled, picking up the phone.

"Dr. Jacobs speaking. How can I help you?"

There was a moment's pause prior to a man answering. "Dr. Jacobs! So glad I could get in contact with you. Hopefully I am not bothering you?" The scientist was about to answer as bluntly as possible, to hell with professionalism, but was interrupted before he could say a word. "My apologies for not introducing myself. This is Simon Masrani from Masrani Global Corporation."

Jacobs's jaw hung open. He knew who this man was. No need to state the company. The man on the other end of the line had captured the scientist's attention. Nervously, he cleared his throat and starting straightening his posture. "Good afternoon, Mr. Masrani." Jacobs awkwardly laughed to himself. "I can honestly say I wasn't expecting a call from you. What, uh, can I do for you, sir?"

"For the past couple days, I've been going through files pertaining to InGen's previous accomplishments and came across your name pertaining to one particular achievement?"

Butterflies tore at the geneticist's insides. Which achievement was his named attached to? There were so many he had a hand in, that he couldn't immediately think of which. Was it recreating the Do-Do bird? Unfortunately it didn't make it past 3 days. But at least he had helped recreate one, right? "Which one would that be?"

Simon didn't have to look at the sticky note tacked on to the side of his monitor to get the name right. He'd only become obsessed with it that he had now memorized both classifications for it. "A projected addressed as I-10 HY? Remember anything about it?" Jacobs' smile melted into sheer horror. Everything inside the man came to an abrupt halt. "My apologies for bringing up anything possibly sour from the past? I wouldn't bother you regarding this had it not been for everything about it being redacted. I find myself extremely curious," more like consumed, "To at least get some insight on what this little mystery is..."

Jacobs breathed out, "Pet" under his breath and absent mindedly hung the phone up, eyes wide and staring off into space.

Simon looked to the phone in offense and surprise. Was he just hung up on? And what did a pet have anything to do with his question? He instantly began calling the scientist back. He would have his answers even if it meant flying to states to get it.

* * *

Jonathon Stevens sat at his desk in his office and twirled the curly cord to his office phone around his forefinger while rolling his eyes in boredom to what was being explained to him from the other end. He could careless. His attention was broke and him startled, however, when his office door swung open. Stevens was about to give his secretary a verbal lashing, but she scampered out of sight just as a tall, dark skinned and goateed man wearing a navy blue suit came into view.

Stevens froze in everything he was doing. "I'll have to call you back. Something just came up."

He hung up the phone and leapt to his feet, feeling hot under the collar in both embarrassment and anticipation of what this conversation was about to be covering. "Mr. Masrani. I wasn't informed you would grace Palo Alto with your presence." He extended a hand for the other to take, Simon accepting it with a sneer. "What brings you to our stretch of the world?"

"Last week, I called one of your scientists regarding information on a quite secretive little project from InGen's early days called I-10 HY?" Steven's mirroring look of dread reflecting Jacobs's exact one brought a scheming smile to Simon. Apparently, this subject was very touchy and he was closing in on the reason or reasons why. "Tell me, what do you know about it? I was told you would know quite a lot about it, given your involvement in it. And from what I read in several other files, several people such as the late Peter Ludlow was involved in it as well. He tried to terminate the subject in question? Why is that?"

Stevens nervously swallowed. There was going to be no getting out of this at all. "Unfortunately, there isn't much I can tell you other than the subject being deceased." At least he hoped. Nothing had been heard of from the team he had sent to Isla Sorna damn near a year ago and feared the worst. Virgil Reynolds seemed like a very thorough man and for him to not come back for the rest of his payment could only mean one thing; he was dead.

"And you know this for certain?" The CEO stared down at the lesser executive, who recoiled a bit in the heat of the probing stare.

Stevens shook his head. "No, sir." He could see the other man open his mouth to speak, but cut him off. "_But_, reasoning leaves to question on how a teenage girl can survive on their own on an island with-"

"Teenage girl? Excuse me?" Simon squared his eyes down on the lightly sweating man. "Let's start from the beginning, shall we? _What is_ I-10 HY?"


	134. A Hopeful Lead

**Once again, me randomly going with character personalities...**

* * *

**134 - A Hopeful Lead**

Empty leads. Its all they seemed to be; empty. Over the course of four months, Simon had managed to get a list of names associated with his newest obsession he had come to realize was named Pet. So that's what Dr. Jacobs meant when he said pet. Some of the names were given to him by Stevens while a few others were relayed by Jacobs from what he could remember from his time at the zoo in Kenya. Down the list the CEO had gone, making sure everything about that person was thoroughly checked out before scratching them off as a dead end. He started with the names that struck him as being the most pronounced in affiliation with the hybrid. Unfortunately, John Hammond had passed away so anything he knew had gone with him to the grave. Scratch off that name.

Next one down, Robert Muldoon. The last known address in Kenya, Africa was a dead end as he hadn't been residing there in a little over a year and no new address had come up anywhere. He had a sister, though and when she was questioned stated she hadn't seen her brother in close to 4 years.

Third name down, Terrence Mitchell. He had done some partnership work with the hybrid in Kenya at Hammond's zoo. He, too, seemed to have disappeared as his last known Kenyan address was voided in the later part of '97, closer to autumn time. When fellow employees were questioned on his whereabouts, no one knew anything. He was called away by Ludlow for a job in the middle of '93 and after returning, quit the zoo to begin working as an anti poaching patrol for Kenya. When following possible leads there, all turned up with nothing other than Terrence deciding to retire before a poacher's bullet found its way between his eyes.

Fourth name, Ian Malcolm. It had been mentioned in a stashed away file kept secret by Stevens that Ludlow made mention of the chaotician and the hybrid having a past. After making a phone call to Malcolm to inquire about the hybrid, Malcolm informed he had not seen the woman again after leaving Isla Sorna. While questioning the man, Simon went ahead and asked his fiancé, Dr Sarah Harding, the same thing. Just as predicted, an answer very similar to Malcolm's. Useless.

Fifth name and another mentioned favored crowd as perceived by Ludlow when in Isla Sorna was big game hunter, Roland Tembo. That question and answer session was a bit uncomfortable and not to mention, short and straight to the point. After the male Rex wrecked the campsite, not much was seen of the hybrid shortly afterwards.

Simon tapped the top of his pen on his desk, looking at the sixth and seventh names on the list. Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ellie Sattler. Their associations with the hybrid was on Isla Nublar and during the irreparable damage caused by Dennis Nedry. That was a little over 5 years ago. What would they know about the hybrid? He scratched off those names without even bothering to call to question them. If 5 names of people who had the latest direct contact with the hybrid came out empty, most likely they would too.

Next name and eighth on the list, Derek Muldoon. A bounty hunter from San Francisco. He had been hired by Stevens to join Virgil Reynolds in the hunt down of the hybrid after reports came in of the hybrid being alive on Isla Sorna. That lead Simon to scratch off name nine, which was Reynolds, suspected to be dead. Contact information was available pertaining to Derek's employer, which was a bail bondsman in the San Francisco area. Now, to make a phone call that he hoped would come up with something after this many dead ends. He checked the time on his watch and began thinking to himself quietly. If it was currently 6 PM in India, then it would be roughly 5:30 PM on the west coast of the United States.

Simon made the long distance call to the bondsman number he had been given courtesy of Stevens. It rang 3 times before an answer followed. "West Way Bail Bonds this is Mike. How can I help you?"

Perfect. Someone was available. "I'm looking for a...Derek Muldoon? Is he available to speak with at the moment?"

The man Mike could be heard scoffing. "What, that little shit? Nah. He comes and goes from time to time. Hasn't been around these parts in some time, now. I'd give you his number, but that'd be no use. His number changes each week and since I haven't spoke to him in months, its bound to have changed."

Simon clenched his jaw in anger. Not another empty lead. "Can you perhaps tell me how to get in touch with him, then? Or maybe where he has gone?"

"Who's calling?"

"I was referred to speak with him from an associate. Where is he? Do you know?" The CEO's patience was beginning to walk a fine line of being barely tethered.

"Some crap town out in Montana, is all I know. He hasn't told me a damn thing other than 'in the middle of no where'. He lives out there with his uncle. That's all I know. Can I ask who's calling and a contact number so the next time I can relay the message?"

It was something better than nothing, at least. "That'll be alright, Mike is it? I'll try to contact someone else" and he hung up.

Nothing he said was a lie. Simon had been honest in everything he had said. He jotted down a quick note of what he had learned next to Derek's name. He even made a star next to Robert Muldoon's scratched out name, seeing how he and his nephew were known to be affiliated with the other. The man began subconsciously chewing at the top of his pen as he put the pieces of a forming puzzle together in his head. The only known survivor of Stevens' little hired hunting party was Derek, who moved off to Montana with his uncle roughly about the time he was to return from Isla Sorna. Was it possible the bounty hunter found a certain someone on the island? Or was it he just wanted to get as far away from InGen as possible? What were these two men up to? He planned to find out.


	135. Weirdo With A Rifle

**I'm going to go out on a limb, here, and bring back a previously covered character that I felt worked well with Pet. My good friend and I have had several good laughs discussing the possibilities of this character being around, if even for a little while.**

* * *

**135 - Weirdo With a Rifle**

September in Montana was becoming Pet's favorite time of year. It wasn't too cool but wasn't too hot either. The sun could be shining and usually in July, it'd make it sweltering to work in, but not in September. She laid out across the dirt, mind focused on her square she occupied of the dig site. This Thursday felt like every other, thus far, full of work that the excavation had to offer.

Off in the distance, a dust cloud followed a hunter green Dodge Ram pick up through the arid and dry terrain. The cloud following the truck finally caught up to its creator when the vehicle stopped before a mass of trailers and tents matching the coordinates given by Robert Muldoon. Without a doubt, this had to be the excavation of Dr. Alan Grant. Who else would collect such a mass assembly such as this in the middle of no where? The driver of the truck slid out of the front seat and went around to the back to retrieve a couple belongings.

Just as the truck had done, olive drab boots kicked up the loose dirt as they made their way between the trailers and tents. They stopped, however, when catching sight of a large canopy positioned and stretched over the dig site. There was a number of people beneath it, some kneeling and some laying on their bellies, brushing and chipping away the casing of earth around a fossil.

Billy was the first to notice and the newcomer and was unsure of what to think. Standing out like a sore thumb was a man dressed down in a long sleeve, light brown shirt and khaki pants with a grey hat resting on a seemingly bald head. Slung over one shoulder was a back pack and in another hand was what appeared to be a rifle case of a sort.

This oddball didn't have to take his shades off for Billy to know he was the sole receiver of an otherwise inquiring gawk. Promptly, the younger man got to his feet and approached the stranger. Pet thought nothing of this and didn't bother looking to the new comer, seeing how people came and went at the dig site on an almost daily basis.

Billy stopped a couple feet shy of the man. "Can I help you?"

Roland Tembo arched a brow at the much younger scientist, layered in a light coating of limestone. "Just point me to the man in charge of this little shindig."

"That would be Dr. Alan Grant" Billy answered. Several moments passed, Roland not speaking, which made Billy slightly uncomfortable. "If you'll follow me, please..." he motioned for the other to follow, both men going to the main office trailer.

Billy opened the trailer door to reveal Grant hunched over the kitchen bar and analyzing a series of small fossils in a plastic bin. The Dr. looked up from his work and stood up to stare at the newcomer in bafflement. Something told him this guy wasn't there to dig up fossils. "Hello" he greeted cautiously, eyes fixated on the rifle case. Was that really necessary? "Something I can help you with?"

"Where is she" Roland questioned in demand.

Grant squared his eyes at the man. "She, who?"

Roland cut his eyes over his shoulder to Billy, who got the point and nervously closed the office trailer's door. He returned his gaze to the scientist. "The girl, the hybrid. You'd know her as Pet or Veronica. I know she's here so enough with the playing dumb and tell me where she is."

The man's tone of voice in demand struck a nerve with Grant. That or the fact he was there, obviously armed and looking for the hybrid. "InGen has already been here in search of her. They found nothing, so-"

Roland removed his sun glasses to stare the man in the eye. "I'm not with InGen, Dr. Grant. Not anymore. I'm here on behalf of Robert Muldoon. I received a phone call some time ago from a man named Simon Masrani asking a lot of questions. Such as what I knew of her, when I last saw her and if I possibly knew her current whereabouts. After I gave them a piece of my mind, I called Robert relaying my concerns. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Mr. Masrani is trying to hunt the young woman down to finish what Peter Ludlow and the rest of those InGen bastards started."

The office door swung open again, this time to reveal Ellie and Pet laughing and chatting amongst themselves. Both people fell silent when seeing the new comer standing before the paleontologist. A sudden wave of dread swept over Grant as he watched the wide eyed, jaw dropped hybrid freeze in mid step. Should things go bad, he wasn't quiet sure what he'd do but he knew a part of him would do whatever he could to protect the woman in question.

Pet stepped into the trailer, Ellie in tow, and closed the door behind her. "Roland" she breathed out, utterly confused. "What are you doing here? How did you even know where to find me?"

Across the camp, Billy rushed to Quarantine and banged on the door. A shirtless Derek opened the door and raised a brow to the visitor. "What's up, Boy Scout?"

Billy really hated that name and scowled. "There's some weirdo with a rifle looking for Veronica."

Derek's gaze thinned down. "Hold that thought." He closed the door behind him and yelled out, "Uncle Rob! Terrence! Some asshole with a gun is here, looking for Pet!"

Muldoon stepped out of the bunk room, buttoning up a grey short sleeve shirt. Before he could inform his nephew of his knowing the newcomer, his nephew was already gone. "That would be Roland" he grumbled.

Terrence stared at the older man. "Who?"

Billy could feel the current of anger in Derek's wake as he stormed by and kept back at a distance when following him. The bounty hunter questioned the younger man trailing the rear. "Where is he?"

"Office trailer, with Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler."

Anyone standing or walking in the path of the agitated Derek quickly got out of the way, already knowing it best to not get tangled up in his business when looking like that. Derek jerked open the office door with one hand while drawing his pistol from behind him.

Cocking it, he aimed it at the man in question, glaring. Standing next to him and within arm's reach was the hybrid. "Back the fuck away from her!" Roland stared at the pistol unimpressed and slid off his hat, allowing it to hang off his neck behind him. "Don't make me ask you again, Cue Ball!" Pet took one look at the pissed off man barging into the trailer and barked a shriek.

Muldoon ran into the trailer and stopped, seeing the familiar man and huffing a laugh. "You son of a bitch."

Roland's features lit up in a smile. "Robert!" The two men met in a friendly hug, completely throwing off Derek and Terrence. The new comer shot his attention back to the much younger man amongst them, now lowering his gun and putting it on safety. "Who's this little shit?"

"A little shit." Muldoon sighed, planting his hands on his hips.

Pet stepped around the two older men, ignoring a horrified Grant who had backed out of the way as soon as Derek made his entrance. She spoke as she forced Derek's gun of his hand and shoved back in its holster behind him, tucked within his pants. "You'll have to forgive him. He's a bit trigger happy."

Derek kept a keen, dark eyed watch on her. "What the hell did you expect? Boy Scout came running up to the trailer hollering about some asshole here with a rifle and looking for you! My first thought was some InGen idgit here to kill you!" The hybrid snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "What about my other gun? Are you going to rough handle it, too?"

Terrence hung his head. "You just don't know when to stop, do you?"

Pet neared the bounty hunter and deviously smiled. "Why play with your pea shooter when there's a real man's gun present?"

Derek's eyes momentarily left the hybrid's forming raptor ones and over to the rifle case leaning against the kitchen cabinet before looking back to the woman. "It's not a matter of the size but how its used. Didn't you know? Quality, not quantity."

"Sometimes a woman likes to feel a heavy piece in her hands."

Derek neared her more, their faces barely inches apart. "What makes you think I'm not hiding a 'heavy piece' somewhere else?"

Muldoon rolled his eyes and buried his face in a hand. Roland looked from the two young people and over to his good friend. "I'm assuming this is typical?"

Grant grumbled, "You have no idea."


	136. Pet's Posse

**136 - Pet's Posse**

Derek cocked his head at the man his uncle seemed to be good friends with. "I'm guessing you're here because of him?" He gestured to his uncle with a side nod of his head.

Roland stared blankly at the cocky younger man. "What's it to you?"

Pet interrupted the two, foreseeing a possible argument. "Okay let's nip this in the butt before it starts..." She looked to the hunter. "What are you doing here and how did you find this place?"

Muldoon stepped in. "That would be because of me. Apparently, the people that bought InGen are trying to find you." His blue eyed gaze was centered on Pet. "The company's CEO has been calling people who have had contact with you trying to find out where you are."

The hybrid gawked jaw dropped at her guardian and best friend. "When were you going to tell me this? Obviously you've known about this for some time!"

"I didn't want to scare you" the ex game warden comfortingly stated. Pet still stared at him, though speechlessly.

Roland kept a debating watch on the younger of the present men. "Who are you to the lady, exactly?"

Derek stared laughing. "Lady? Man, what world are you from? Pet's no lady..." A quick backhand in the cut sent him hunching forward, but his laughing didn't stop. "See?"

Muldoon answered. "He's my nephew and a bounty hunter with connections."

Roland's snorted a laugh and looked over to Terrence, giving him a first real head to toe stare down since arriving. "I remember you!" Terrence scowled at the game hunter, crossing his arms over his chest in the process. "You were that anti poaching bastard trying to get me arrested!"

Everyone looked over to Terrence, eager to hear all about the details. "You shot and killed a gazelle on private property..."

"Correction, I shot a gazelle _outside_ private property that ran and jumped the fence around the property, where it just so happened to die."

"You were caught on the private property with a dead animal in your hands."

"I was collecting my kill, Mr...?"

Derek cut in. "Personality. Mr. Personality."

Terrence cut his acidic gaze down on Derek just as Muldoon rubbed a hand over his face to force back a snicker. Even Pet had to fight back her own amusement.

* * *

Over the course of the rest of the afternoon, Roland had thoroughly explained himself and his purpose for being at the dig site to those it mattered to. Now, he sat lounged back in a lawn chair situated around Quarantine's patio table with Muldoon seated next to him. In both their hands was a beer, both men chatting.

Roland pointed his beer bottle at Grant standing by the dig site next to Billy and Pet. "So that is the great Dr. Alan Grant, is it? Veronica's little flame, I'm assuming?"

Muldoon grumbled and shrugged. "Who the hell knows from one day to the next."

"And who's the kid standing next to him?"

"Dr. Grant's protégé."

"Hmm" the man hummed behind a swig of his drink. "Good thing I didn't knock him in the face, then. I'm sure that wouldn't have settled well with the good Dr."

"Pet would have probably thanked you, though." Muldoon could see his good friend raise a brow in question, insisting he continue. "Every since he broke off their little fling, she's held a little resentment towards him even though she says they're on good terms."

Roland's face wrinkled in disapproval. "And here I figured her to have a better taste in men." The two sat in silence for a minute before the hunter continued. "What's the deal between her and your little shit of a nephew?"

"I'll let you know when I figure it out, myself. Derek says he sees Pet as a sister, but the way he acts and more than half the shit he says and does suggests otherwise. Despite his arrogance, he's a good kid and has proven numerous times to be a trust worthy source around her."

Roland pointed to Terrence, next, helping move a fossil from one tent and into another for plastering. "What about..._Personality's_...story...What business does he have, here?"

Muldoon finished off the rest of his beer in a couple swigs, answering. "He kept a watch on Pet when InGen first sent a team in to hunt her down and kill her. I believe it was some wanker named Ludlow who gave him and the others a shoot to kill order. He could've shot her anytime he wanted, but he didn't. Instead, he tried to prove her dead to help save her."

"So who in this little san box expedition knows about Veronica's secret?" Roland thought he already knew, but wanted to double check to make sure.

Ellie could be seen approaching the three people talking by the immediate dig site, a baby roughly a month old in her arms. She smiled at the small group. "Hey guys."

Pet instantly turned all girly when seeing the baby and rushed over to the older woman, awing over the little life. "Aw! Hey there, little Charlie!" She took one of the baby's hands in hers and giggled. "He's so cute!"

"Yeah well, not all the time" Ellie sighed. "He refused to lay down for a nap earlier this afternoon so now he's a whiny mess because he's tired..." She readjusted her handle on the baby. "I figured I'd give the baby sitter a break. Poor Megan is about to go insane! It'd be nice if Mark could've come for a few days. Duty calls, though."

"Can I hold him?" Pet questioned pleadingly at Ellie, the hybrid's clawed hands reaching for the baby. Without argument, she was handed the blanket wrapped baby and gladly accepted him in a cradling embrace.

Billy sighed. "Great. All it takes is that introduction to a baby and then she'll want one, too."

Pet took a pacifier Ellie handed her and wiggled it into baby Charlie's mouth. "If only. I can't have kids of my own, unfortunately. I'm incapable with regular people."

The older woman frowned at the hybrid. "That sucks."

"A little" Pet breathed out, but her smile quickly returned when the baby squeaked a coo.

As concrete in expression as Grant had been for most of the day, he smiled when watching the hybrid hold the baby. How something so potentially fierce could be so gentle and motherly. He wondered if this was the human part of her or if in fact raptors cared for their young. Ellie could see the sparkle in her good friend's eye and almost burst open in happiness. There was something in his eyes she hadn't seen before and it was aimed at the hybrid holding the baby. Had something changed in this man she once thought she knew all too well?

Ellie's gaze fell on the hybrid next to her and couldn't help but feel a slight flicker of jealousy. She couldn't be mad, though and didn't stay so for long. Not when seeing how both people looked to the other in that brief moment they met gazes.


	137. A Piece of Work

**137 - A Piece of Work**

"_Damn it!_" Raged Derek, slamming his phone down on the dining room table and startling Terrence seated across from him. The older man leapt at the unexpected tangent and spilled his spoon full of chili on the table top and partially on his lap. "This isn't good."

"What?"

But Terrence was ignored as Derek stormed outside to find his uncle still sitting at the patio table, it now being mid evening. A collection of beer bottles littered the table between him and the latest arrival. Derek spoke up. "We've got a problem. My boss in Cali, Mike, said someone called up a couple months ago looking for me. They didn't say who they were, but and this coming from Mike...the person had an Indian accident."

Roland studied the bounty hunter questionably. "Sounds like that Masrani jackass who called me."

Muldoon sobered up a bit hearing the news. "Your boss didn't give any details, did he? Like where you are?"

Derek tossed his hands in the air. "From what he told me, all he told the guy was that I was in Montana with you and that's all I told Mike. Thankfully he didn't tell him my phone number. He told the guy that I changed my number a lot so trying to call me would be impossible."

Roland questioned. "How well do you trust his guy?"

"I've worked for him since I was 20."

The hunter gave the younger man a blank expression. "So not long, then. You're what, 20 now? Are you even of age to legally drink?"

Derek was offended. "I'm 27, asshole!"

"Oh, so your balls have dropped, then." He took a drink of his beer as Muldoon huffed a laugh. "Someone should tell the girl, then."

Muldoon shook his head. "Can't. Not at the moment, at least. Pet went out with Dr. Grant for dinner in town. They won't be back for at least another couple hours."

Derek smiled mischievously. "Is that so? Are they back on again?"

"Why the bloody hell are you asking me?"

Roland stiffened back a burp as politely as possible. "Robert, your girl is a real piece of work. Here, she's all girly over boys but yet when I saw her on Isla Sorna, she was trying to disembowel Peter Ludlow. I had her wrestle her down to keep her from killing him, at one point! You taught her well, by the way. I swear that girl is fearless. As people are running from T-Rexes and raptors, she's running after them trying to pick a fight!"

Muldoon laughed. "That's my girl, alright. You should've seen her at work in Kenya and at the park."

"There's a certain level of stupid bravery in fighting dinosaurs to help save others, but to go off in blatant disregard at being hunted by one of the top companies out there is pure recklessness."

Derek sat down in one of the last two unoccupied patio chairs and shrugged. "Pet's going to do what she wants. I don't really think there's any stopping her. I just hope Grant took my advice on winning back Pet..."

The two other men stared at the young woman, baffled. Muldoon slimmed his gaze down on his nephew. "What did you do?"


	138. Not The Worst of Dates Either

**So I might've been listening to a fairly new song when I got inspired to write something squishy _ 2 AM + being super sleepy because hyper puppies keep me up at night on top of listening to the new song = soapy, sappy Raven. Bad me. I think? I need sleep...**

* * *

**138 - Not The Worst of Dates Either**

The evening had been nice, so far, for Grant and Pet. Prior to leaving the dig site, he had made a reservation at an Italian food restaurant and was grateful that his date was actually one for being punctual, unlike his last date last year. They had been seated at a booth with the restaurant's house wine filling their glasses between them.

Pet finished up her multi layered chocolate cake and picked at one of the stray chocolate chips stuck in chocolate syrup on the plate. Grant lightly laughed at the woman now running her finger along the streams of syrup at the edges of the plate in her quest to make the plate as clean as possible. She licked at her finger, suddenly becoming aware of the man seated across from her and watching her.

Her cheeks turned a bright shade of pink that not even the restaurant's dim light could hide. "Uh..."

"I take it you liked it?"

Pet shyly nodded and embarrassingly wiped the chocolate off her face. "Yeah, a little."

"Well, good" Grant smiled out, taking a modest sip of his wine. "I did a little research earlier and found something you might like."

"Oh?" The hybrid's interest was peeked. "Dare I ask what that is?"

"If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise."

The waiter, a tall heavy set older gentlemen, took the desert free plate from the young woman and smiled to the two patrons. "Can I get anyone anything? A refill on your wine' ma'am?"

Pet shook her head. "Not for me. Two glasses is enough."

Grant spoke up. "The check would be nice, please." The waiter nodded his head once in acknowledgment and strode away.

The hybrid took a drink of her quarter full glass and slimmed her eyes at the man. "What are you up to, Alan? What's going on in that head of yours? Usually its bones and dirt but tonight..." She sat her glass down, cocking a smile in debate. "Tonight you're different. Why? Why all this? The nice dinner, the wine...now a surprise?"

"Can I not do something nice once in a while?"

Pet's smile faltered, her biting back a surge of sadness swelling in her chest. "I'm being serious, Alan. Why this fancy date? To butter me up for another heartbreak?" She shook her head. "I love you to death and I'm sure you already know this but...I don't want to be rejected again because I'm not the copy and paste scenario girlfriend everyone wants me to be, apparently." She heaved a deep breath, continuing. "I claw...I bite. I have an attitude, abandonment issues and not to mention-"

"Veronica..." He waited to see if the teary eyed woman would stop for a moment for him to get a thought about. "This isn't what this is about." She cocked her head to the side, eyes heavy in anticipation to his next words. "I just wanted to show you that you still matter and regardless of what happens next, I'll always be here for you."

The waiter returned with the check and sat the black check presenter down on the end of the table and was going to walk away, but Grant stopped him. Without even looking at the price, he slid his debit card out of his wallet and into the clear sleeve inside the presenter. Again, the waiter smile and recollected the check, walking away.

The scientist could care less about how much the dinner cost. It could be over $100 for all he cared. He'd spend double that if it meant seeing her smile again. Pet couldn't take her eyes off the man before her. Even when involved with Billy, a part of her still pained for the other's company. It was when she was allowing her self to overcome him that her seemingly healthy relationship fell to the floor.

* * *

After dinner was paid for, the two were back in the museum's brown pick up and heading down the dark highway towards the dig site. But that's not where Grant was going. Sure, it seemed that way when he turned off the highway and onto the familiar dirt road snaking across the Ft. Peck Lake region. After a couple miles down the road, he sat and starting driving slower so as not to pass up whatever it was he was looking for. He almost missed his turn and had to break a little harder than normal to make it.

Down another couple miles the truck went until finally, they had arrived to a clearing next to a part of the lake. Pet looked around, seeing nothing but the vast stretch of water in front of the truck. "Okay so... what's the surprise?" The man pulled the truck around and back up so the tail bed was now facing the water.

Grant checked his watch. It was already 9:45 and so far, the skies were clear as forecasted. "You'll see" he teased, turning off the truck and sliding out. The hybrid watched him and followed suit after seeing him unfasten the black net tail gate from the bed of the truck.

The temperature was nice outside and tolerable for the hybrid, though slightly cool. She joined him and sat down, listening to the choir of crickets singing in harmony all around them. "So..." Pet could barely see the man in the dark. Damn it being a new moon!

"Look up."

Pet sighed and did so, completely taken back by the countless stars populating the night sky. "Oh wow." Her neck was starting to hurt she had it titled it back so far. "And a sky full of stars..." she whispered dreamingly.

"Maybe we'll get to see a shooting star or two. Never know."

"I didn't know you were a star gazer." Their gazes met in the dark, Grant smiling and shrugging. "How long have you been doing this stuff?"

"Every since looking into your eyes the night you wore that dress."

Pet's chest seized up and she gasped, thrown into a wave of dizzying surprise. "Alan, I-" His pulling her to him for a kiss halted her every word and thought as she melted in his arms. The intensity of the moment was too much for her and she broke away, blinking away tears escaping her eyes. "I don't want to make this mistake again."

"It wont be a mistake. I swear to you that much." He reached out and caressed her face, feeling her cheeks damp with tears. "I love you, Veronica. You're the other half of me I've been denying myself for far too long." The hybrid squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to succumb to how she felt for the man again. She told herself she was done with relationships, for now, seeing how they ended badly for her. The man leaned in to whisper into the woman's ear, "Let me love you, Nica."

"I did, once. I gave you my heart, but you took my soul when you walked away."

"Which is why I'm giving you my heart and soul in return..."

She caved and began crying even harder. Who knew under that usually dust covered man was a romantic? "Damn you, Alan." She shook her head and leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder.

Grant smiled to himself and wrapped an arm around the woman's lower back to pull her closer to him. Now he had another reason to be more appreciative of Derek. That little shit was right; the woman would cave at the right play on words in the right setting. This time, he'd make sure to not screw things up royally. No sense in waiting around for Ellie to come running back to him. She's was happily married and with a kid, now. He didn't want to ruin that for her seeing how it'd always been her dream to settle down and have a family.

He kissed the woman on the top of the head as they sat there in the back of the truck, looking at the stars.


	139. One Man's Quest, Another Girl's Fear

**139 - One Man's Quest, Another Girl's Fear**

November and Simon Masrani was still no closer to finding the hybrid now than what he was earlier in the year. His once excitement was dwindling into exasperation as he stared blankly at a picture he had obtained of the hybrid in his hand. At one point in time, Hammond had been given the picture and after his passing, the picture was found when his estate was cleaned and readied for marketing. This picture was amongst the belongings seized by a representative of InGen when company files were retrieved from the mansion.

He had to admit, she looked _nothing_ like what he had envisioned. Something more reptilian and sinister looking, yes, but a seemingly normal to the eye young woman? Had it not been for having this picture, he would've easily missed seeing her in public should that opportunity ever come around.

He breathed out in a sigh, "Where are you little Pet?" It was then that he got an idea.

* * *

Dr. Jacobs opened his mouth to question the goateed and suited man before him, but wasn't sure how to respond to his proposal. "Um, y-you... " He bit his lips together. "Let me get this right...you-"

Simon stared at the blabbering Dr with a deadpan stare. "Can you or can you not recreate another hybrid?"

"Uhhhhh..." Jacobs nervously cleared his throat. "I'm not even sure what I did the first time, seeing how the specimen was a goof." He winced under the scrutinizing gaze he was receiving. "I don't even know how I got raptor DNA, frog DNA and a human's to all mesh together!" Still, the CEO didn't move or blink. Was he even breathing? This guy was like a statue. "I can try."

"You did it once before, Dr. Surely a geneticist of your caliber can do it again? I've given you all your notes from when you did this the first time..." Simon gestured to the box sitting on the corner of the man's desk half full of manila folders with disks in cases scattered about the top of them. "That is everything pertaining to I-10 HY's creation. If you can't do it then I will find someone who can."

Jacobs _hated_ being doubted and passed over on job opportunities. He reached into the box and slid aside a couple disks to withdraw a folder from the stack. He flipped it open and frowned, sighing at the jotted down scribbles of notes that seemed so distant in the past but so fresh on the mind.

The scientist nodded his head. "Fine. But there's some things I'm going need."

"Name it" Simon responded hastily.

* * *

Sites of a rifle settled down on a red soda can located down range roughly 75 yards from a Remington 750 rifle. Thankfully there was no wind to knock over the can sitting on top of a refrigerator box. Pet's finger lightly flexed around the trigger as she breathed as shallow as possible.

In a loud explosion, the can disappeared from the site's immediate view as it flew into the air. Pet lowered the rifle to stare wide eyed at the flying can. "_HEY!"_

She glared over in Roland's direction, snorting in annoyance. He lowered his Nitro Express, paying her no visual attention. "You were taking too long."

Pet snorted again. "Bastard."

"Yes, yes I am" the man replied flatly. The can hit the ground in a clattering of metal now chewed up from the rifle's 900 grain projectile.

Derek, lounged back in a canvas camping chair, pointed to a bag of cans sitting nearby. "Your turn to set up targets, Pet. I've done it the past 3 times."

The hybrid shook her head. "Not until I shoot something." She re-shouldered the Remington and aimed at the refrigerator box. "See that A in caution?" She fired the rifle. "Now you don't."

Grant picked up a pair of binoculars sitting on an ammo can and studied the box. Sure enough, the A was shot through. "But which A in caution were you referring to?"

Pet slimmed her gaze down on the man. "How many As are in caution, Alan? I can only think of one..."

"But there's two cautions on that side of the box."

Derek chuckled, watching the disgruntled hybrid storm down range with can bag in tow. "Make sure you set up enough for the entire class to shoot at, this time, Pet!" All he got in response was a middle finger in the air. He laughed again.

The group of men watched the hybrid start to build a meticulous pyramid of cans. Muldoon studied his nephew. "Well, you did say she needed to set out more."

"Yeah, but not the entire bag of cans! Now we'll run out of cans sooner than expected!"

Terrence looked over at the brown Ford truck's bed loaded down with many more bags of cans. "Oh, I think we have enough for a little while."

Pet returned with the empty bag and wadded it up, throwing it at Derek. "Is that good enough for you, shit wad?"

"Smart ass" he chided, throwing the bag back at her.

After a couple more hours of shooting, the 15 bags of cans had been condensed down to 8, seeing how many of the cans had been crushed down post being shot up. Muldoon sighed. "Well there just went a shit ton of money's worth of ammo, today." He began placing the empty ammo cans in the back of the truck.

Pet assisted, smiling. "It was worth it, though."

"I'm not saying it wasn't" he laughed out. "Just saying that was a lot of money shot down range."

Derek loaded up the cooler into the back of the Jeep as Terrence followed behind with the collapsed down canvas chairs. Pet rode back with Grant to the dig site, her quiet the entire ride. It was obvious something was on her mind. The scientist reached out and took one of her hands in his. "What's bothering you?"

The woman shrugged. "I'm scared, Alan. What if that new guy is out there still looking for me? What if he finds me? What will happen to me?"

"Try not to think about it."

"How can I not? For years I've been hunted down and wanted dead. Just when I think everything is good to go, here comes this new guy calling around and looking for me." Pet buried her face in her other hand. "I'm tired of running, tired of hiding...tired of looking over my shoulder for fear of finding my executioner at my heels!"

He kissed the top of her hand, feeling and sympathizing her concerns. "It'll be okay, Nica."

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one being hunted down..."

Grant sighed. "Try being in my shoes when going to colleges to give a seminar on paleontology, feeling like a piece of prey being circled by a flock of crazed college fan girls."

Pet huffed a laugh. "That's when you bring me along."

The two people met amused expressions. "I can just see that now...my girlfriend versus a classroom of fan girls." They laughed, pulling up to the dig site and parking next to the office trailer.

"I promise not to claw or bite."

Grant looked bewildered at the hybrid. "Then what's the fun in bringing you along?"

Pet gave him a sideways glare as she unloaded a couple empty ammo cans. "You should be ashamed of yourself."


	140. Chances Are

**140 - Chances Are**

Dr. Jacobs slid off his glasses and sat them aside so he could rub at his exhausted and strained eyes. He'd been staring down microscopes at blood samples for the past several hours in the past couple months. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see were microscopes, blood samples and DNA strands. Didn't matter if awake or asleep; his work was haunting him. The last time he did this, he was much younger and better able to keep up with the stress levels associated with such work. Not to mention him also excited to see the end result of his work. How did he miss it, then? Over the course of redoing what it was he started over 20 something years ago, it was more than obvious the differences in the different types of DNA. Yet then, he didn't. How? How did he _not_ notice?

Standing behind him and observing him through the lab's window was Simon. Since insisting the geneticist create another hybrid, he'd been spending more time in the U.S. He'd return to India only long enough to make the weekly meeting, catch up on what he'd missed and review the oil reports. Since beginning experimental wind energy the reports only stacked up more. Glinda. Damn it, how could he have forgotten? He was supposed to meet with Mascom Network's leading developer of the weather satellite. It was set to launch in a few short months, but prior to, it was meeting after meeting to discuss it. He would have to call up the developer to put off their meeting for at least a couple days until back in the office. So much to do, yet here he was lingering over a scientist and team's shoulders regarding an off the record experiment.

Jacobs grumbling snapped Simon back to reality. The scientist wearily rose to his feet, sliding his glasses back on and turned to see the wealthy man standing on the other side of the glass. Great. Now what did he want? Jacobs damned the day he even said yes to John Hammond's initial idea of wanting to recreate a dinosaur. Maybe then, he wouldn't be in this situation. He needed more coffee or he wasn't going to make it another hour.

He shuffled out of the pristine lab and into the hallway, gently closing the door behind him. Its electronic locks hissed and clicked behind him in securing. "Was there something you needed, sir?"

Simon, who stood in his usual straight backed posture and hands shoved into his pants pockets, answered placidly. "Any progress, Dr.?"

Jacobs nodded. "Getting the raptor and frog DNA to mesh was easy. Now I'm just at a brick wall trying to get the human DNA to work with everything."

"I'm sure you'll make it work." The CEO's dark eyes pierced into the scientists. His statement was more of a demand and not so much a positive encouragement. "Which brings me to another concern I had. I had read a lot of your notes and apparently, the original specimen was created with a life threatening illness, correct?" Jacobs nodding, knowing all to well what the man opposite him was referring to. "This second specimen of yours... will be it affected, as well?"

Jacobs frowned and shrugged. "I don't believe so."

"_Should_ it be infected, how about a cure? I read mention of your working on one prior to I-10 HY leaving the Kenya facility for Jurassic Park." Simon arched an inquisitive brow. "Yet you never finished it. Why?"

"I, uh..." The scientist started to feel hot under the collar as a light layer of sweat glistened on his brow. "When I was told Pet, er um I-10 HY was presumed deceased, I discontinued my work on a cure. I didn't see the point in it, anymore, seeing how she was the only one it would've been for."

Simon nodded in acceptance of the answer. "I want you to continue your research in a cure following your completing in recreating a hybrid should it be infected with the illness as well."

Jacobs held up a hand to stop the man from leaving as he turned on a heel. "Sir, I've actually managed to viral out the affected chromosomes from a portion of the raptor sample. It had inherited a virus from one of its parents."

"Inherited?..."

"Yes. The virus was transmitted through mosquitoes between infected dinosaurs Apparently one of its parents contracted this virus and it passed down to the offspring."

"And you were able to remove this affected chromosome?"

The scientist wobbled where he stood. "Something like that..."

"Had you not been able to do this, how long would you say these creations would live?" Simon watched the accomplished smile fade from the scientist's features. 

"I don't know, sir. With Pet, I mean I-10 HY, she lived to be 18 before reported as deceased?"

The CEO sighed in agitation. "She was never reported deceased or alive. Last time she was seen was in May 97...making her roughly 24 years of age?" He cut his eyes down on the scientist.

"Wow...and here I was guestimating she wouldn't live past 19, 20 the latest." Simon's brow furrowed. "Well, that being based on how the illness was progressively getting worse each attack. I just calculated its steadily rising intensity each attack over the years I tended to her and well...Yeah 19, 20 before it got too bad that her body would shut down because of."

The news was disheartening to hear for Simon. Deep down, a part of him kept believing his little enigma was out there alive somewhere. The fact that she had lived to be 24 and appearing healthy enough to save a man from being killed by a T-Rex, according to Roland Tembo's report, made him believe she was doing well enough.

Grimly, Simon continued. "Should the girl still be alive, what are the chances of curing her?"

Jacobs's shoulders and overall posture sunk. "I don't know. I'm was able to viral out the chromosome prior to creature creation. Once a created specimen and in adulthood?" He man shrugged. "I don't know if I can do anything for it, well her...the sickness...whatever. Technically I could viral her out of it, but I don't know the toll it would have on her body. I'd have to have a current blood sample to test to better know what something like that would do to her."

"I'll see what I can do, then." With that, Simon spun on the heel of an expensive loafer and disappeared down the corridor.


	141. Progressively Worse

**The fan fic has officially hit 300 pages on my Microsoft Word file using 11 point font. :D I feel so accomplished! This is officially my longest fan fic currently in my fan fic folder of 30 other inactive projects. A couple shelved others are sitting at 120 to 140 pages. My longest ever to date was 800 pages but my evil old '95 Zenith laptop ate it when a lot of files became corrupted back in 2003. R.I.P seaQuest v_v I'll revise you one day...**

* * *

**1****41 - Progressively Worse**

The excavations monthly bond fire and BBQ was about to start, the last kabob skewer loaded up and sat off to the side. Terrence glanced around at the collection of people inside Grant's trailer and noticed Pet absence. "Anyone seen Pet?"

Derek tossed a piece of chopped carrot into his mouth and nodded. "Yeah, she's supposed to be cooking baked beans in Quarantine. Said she'd be over when done."

Billy bit the end of one of the cooking mitts and pulled it off to check the time on his watch. "I don't think baked beans take this long to cook. It's been almost 2 hours."

"Maybe she's making potato salad, too? She did mention potentially making some if there were enough potatoes..." Derek sat down the knife he had been using to chop vegetables for kabobs and poked his head outside. Standing in front of a grill billowing smoke was Muldoon and Roland. "Hey Uncle Rob, seen Pet around?"

"She's back at the trailer, cooking." He reached for a pair of tongs hanging on a hook mounted to the grill's wooden shelf. "Why?"

"Nothing. I just figured she'd been here by now. Seems like she can't go 5 minutes being away from the Doc before going into withdraws."

Grant stepped past the bounty hunter and proceeded down the stairs wearing an expression of annoyance. Though the little shit was an asset at times, he was also an ass. Muldoon cocked a half smile at the scientist and took the plate of prepared hamburger patties being handed to him.

Roland spoke up. "Since you gents seem to have this under control, I'll go check on Veronica. Make sure she's not trying to burn down the trailer, again."

He strode through the joyous residents mingling about the excavation and to Quarantine. When he went inside, he instantly knew something was different with one look at the sweaty hybrid leaning over the kitchen sink. Her face and even her entire body looked flustered as strands of sweat logged hair clung to her face, neck and chest.

Roland instantly went to her and felt of her face. She was burning up. "Veronica are you-" but her passing out cut off his words.

Her illness couldn't be flaring up again could it? It had only been roughly 2 months since the last attack and the attacks were usually in 3 months or so intervals. The last time this happened, he was keen on paying attention to how the situation was handled. First things first, he remembered, was getting her in a cool bath to help bring down the temperature. He gathered her in his arms and carried her to the bathroom. He sat her down on the floor and started the water, making sure it was lukewarm so as not to be too cold for her nor too warm for the temperature. Lastly he laid her in the tub, wearing only the essentials, and instantly began looking for a thermometer.

There wasn't one in the med cabinet in the bathroom. He felt uneasy going into the bunk room, but knew that was where Muldoon kept the specialized emergency med kit for Pet when she got sick. After fervently searching through the bunk racks, he found nothing. He turned, finding a very pissed off Derek stare back at him.

"What do you think you're doing going through someone else's shit?"

"Veronica" Roland answered. "She's sick. I need the med kit. Where is it?"

Derek pushed past the older man and went for his bunk to get the kit from the racks, there. He then went into the bathroom to find the water level dangerously high in the tub and turned off the water. He took one look at the unconscious, fever flustered woman and fished around in the kit to find one of the two thermometer.

Roland noticed there were two. "Why two?"

Derek answered, uncapping the larger and more normal of the two, answering. "One is for cold blooded animals. Vets use it. This one" he motioned, turning it on, "Is a normal person's. This one wont read her standard temperature. It'll keep coming back as 'Low Temp', but given her having an obvious fever, it'll read it." Tenderly he turned the woman's face towards him and placed the thermometer under her tongue. He had to hold her mouth closed, given her being unconscious and unable to hold it in her mouth herself. After a couple minutes, it beeped, Derek reading the temp out loud. "97.8" He washed off the medical tool and recapped it, tossing it back in the med kit. "That would be about a 104 for a regular person."

Roland felt helpless as he watched the hybrid start to wake. Her groggy eyes lazily looked around until they fell on Derek seated on the toilet by the tub. She hoarsely spoke, "Get up" and lunged for the toilet. The man barely moved out of the way in time before the hybrid became ill.

Derek was officially worried. "Shit. Go get Uncle Rob. Something's not right with Pet. She's never thrown up with this shit before."

Roland was slightly unsettled by the news of this being something new for the hybrid. He wasted no time returning to the senior scientist's trailer. The horrified look on his face was enough to make Muldoon drop everything and tear off towards Quarantine. Inside, Billy watched through the kitchen window and could see something was wrong when watching the two men run off. "Alan, I think something's wrong..."

Grant spun around where he had been standing over a pot of boiling water to see the two usually composed men run through the camp. "Oh no..." He followed suit, almost knocking the pot off the stove.

Muldoon was the first into the trailer. To the bathroom he went, seeing his nephew tending to the hybrid. "What is it?"

Derek shrugged. "I think its her illness, but I can't say for sure. A stomach bug, maybe? I don't know. She's thrown up twice in just the past few minutes. She's never done that before, but everything else suggests its her illness."

Muldoon shook his head. "It happened a few times when she was a child, but that was because she had cereal shortly before the fever spiked. Dairy on a feverish stomach equals no good." Minutes later, the woman wiped at her face and laid back in the tub. He went over to the toilet and flushed it, closing the lid and sitting back down. His saddened eyes stayed focused on her bloodshot, weary ones. "So what brought that on?"

Pet weakly shook her head. "I felt nauseous. Probably from post my passing out."

"Would make sense" stated Roland, standing in the door way.

Pet weakly turned her head to look at the man and squinted her gaze down. "What are you doing here?"

"I was here when you passed out. You looked right at me before hand."

"Oh" she spoke. "I don't remember."

Muldoon got up and pulled a wash rag off the stack of others in the wicker shelves hanging on the wall and got it wet with the tub's water. He then dabbed the woman's face, sympathetically frowning at her. "Did you feel this coming on?" Pet nodded. He caressed her face and and heavily sighed. "Why didn't you say something?"

"I thought it was going to be another allergy attack or something. I didn't think it'd be this!" She winced in pain at her body aching all over. "Its only been what...two months since the last flare up?"

Grant barged into the trailer, his eyes full of panic. "Nica? Is she alright?"

Muldoon frowned, trying to hide his own fret in his features, but there was no denying it. Derek questioned his uncle. "Well, is she?"

The man hung his head low, not wanting to verbally admit what he had been wanting to deny. "She's getting worse."

Terrence and Billy were the last to join the others, Terrence looking between Grant and Roland. "What? What is it? What's going on?"

Roland took it upon himself to answer, seeing how the news was settling quite hard on the scientist's shoulders. "Veronica...her illness has spiked again. Its worse, this time."


	142. Final Call

**I can not begin to describe how difficult it was for me to pull down the previous chapters and replace them with altered content, given how the chapters had already been viewed. I am very deeply sorry for this. Because of how fast and sooner than desired events were occurring, I was dissatisfied with the content and the direction it was going. For the past couple days, I wasn't liking the flow of things so I stayed up till 4 AM trying to fix things. Hopefully, it has a better feel to it. The chapters I pulled will be kept and posted later on when the timing is right for them.**

* * *

**142 - Final Call**

Everyone in the trailer sat eerily quiet following Muldoon's briefing. Curled up in her bed and tucked snuggly beneath her blankets was Pet. Had it not been for the sedative she'd been given some time before hand, she would most likely be in pain. Just getting her out of the tub was a task on its own because any time she was moved, she would whimper or cry. She had been placed in dry clothes and sent to rest, Grant staying by her side until the sedative kicked in. Even then he barely left her side, choosing to stand in her bedroom's doorway to hear what was being said. Anytime the hybrid would whimper or cough in her sleep, the man was right back at her side to make sure she was fine. He would feel of her face and know, even without a thermometer, she still had a fever.

Now, after hearing the news, Grant wasn't the only one feeling sick to their stomach. There was no doubt the hybrid's illness was getting worse, which had been predicted to happen by the geneticist to who had helped unintentionally create her as well as tend to her throughout her residency in Kenya. It had been guessed that the illness would come to take a toll on the hybrid, her body shutting down as a result of its eventual intensifying, unless a cure found.

Derek, head planted between his hands propped on his knees, questioned from where he sat hunched over on the couch. "Is there anything..._anything..._ that can be done for her?" He looked up with teary brown eyes to his uncle leaning against the kitchen cabinet. "Antibiotics? Anything?"

Muldoon pressed out a thin frown. "The geneticist who had been charged with tending to her had been doing research and experiments on a hopeful cure. Of course, that was ended after..." The man trailed off, remembering all too well her being left behind. "Well, after Hammond thought it best she remain on the island after the incident." Grant, too, remembered that and grimaced. He looked to the floor, jaw clenched in anger and fists balled tightly in his pockets.

Derek sighed. "He can still her though, right? I mean, he helped create her. Can't he help cure her, too? That is, if he continued his research on a cure?"

Uncle and nephew stared deeply at the other. "I don't want to take the chance of contacting him should he be in favor of seeing her destroyed." He, too, hung his head in sadness. "For all I know, he'd go running off to InGen and lead another team of executioners right to her."

That didn't settle too well with the younger man. "So you're just going to let her lay there and be sick every time this shit happens? What about the next time she's sick, hmm? If this is getting worse, how much longer do we have before she's beyond _any_ help at all?"

"Something like this happened in Kenya, too. Back in 86 or 87, I can't remember exactly. But she had back to back attacks that were only 3 weeks apart. After that, she went almost 4 months before it happened again. And weird thing is, it wasn't that bad when it flared back up. A mild grade temperature...headache and runny nose was all she had. It was more like an allergy attack than anything."

"You just don't want that Jacobs guy around, is all."

"Damn right I don't" Muldoon growled. "I didn't trust him then and I don't trust him now."

"Either way..." Derek got to his feet to be better eye to eye with his uncle. "He's our best bet _should_ we need his assistance."

"And _should_ that time ever come about, I'll be the one to make the final decision. Technically I'm still responsible for her until I die or she gets married. Whichever happens first."

"Well, you are getting kind of up there, Uncle Rob." A sharp smack upside the head quieted the younger man from any further poor attempts at making a joke. "Alright, alright, fine! Your call..."


	143. Dare Not Say

**143 - Dare Not Say**

When Pet woke up, it was dark everywhere she tried to focus. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, groaning at the stiffness lingering in her joints. In her moving, she could feel another person's weight occupy the bed and she reached out in the dark. Her finger tips brushed across the form, her identifying the form as a shoulder. As she intently listened through the quiet stillness of the night, she could hear the person's rhythmic heartbeat and calm breathing. She knew that heartbeat as she had heard it many times before.

"Robert?" she whispered. Gently she shook the man's shoulder.

The man jerked awake and almost fell off the bed in the process. "Bloody hell..." Muldoon quickly came to his senses and fumbled around with a small lamp on the nightstand, flicking it on. The explosion of bright light took both people by surprise as Pet hissed a bark and quickly covered her eyes with her hands. "Pet!" Muldoon began to feel of the woman's face and smiled to himself at finding her free of a high fever. She still felt warm, but it wasn't anything to make him concerned. A mild grade temperature was normal following an illness flare up. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit" she hoarsely laughed.

The man's laughter echoed the trailer and filled the ears of those sleeping. Grant was stretched out on the couch with a light blanket tossed over him, him being the first to wake. At first, he thought he was hearing crying and in alarm, sat up in a rush of adrenaline. But, after taking a moment to better wake up, he realized he was hearing laughter. That wasn't exactly what he was expecting to hear, given the current state of the situation. And why was he laughing, anyway?

* * *

By now, it was morning as the excavation residents began waking and starting off their day. The smells of sausage frying and biscuits in the oven filled Quarantine, Pet not to keen on eating. She stuck with a glass of apple juice and gnawed on a blueberry waffle on Muldoon's insistence to which she didn't bother to argue. She knew better than that.

Come later in the morning, Pet was balled up in her comforter but not because she still felt sick. She was cold. "I hate the winter" she grumbled to herself.

Plus, she was still feeling a bit ill and sick to her stomach. She wanted to be honest in how she felt, but knew doing so would worry the others. They feared her illness was getting worse and though she had to agree, she didn't want to verbally admit it or show it. Maybe it wouldn't be advisable to tell them of that one time she passed out and remained unconscious for an uncertain amount of days. Even she wished she knew exactly how long she'd been out for. Its not like the dinosaurs on Isla Sorna kept track of the days on a calendar or anything.

A wave of nausea overcame her and she got to her feet, rushing to the bathroom. Hopefully no one was inside to hear her be sick as it'd only add more question and concern to her present being. Once she felt the moment had passed, she flushed the toilet and washed out her mouth. She hated being sick before this latest symptom showed up. Now, she was absolutely horrified more than loathing of her condition.

Wearily, the hybrid trudged back to the couch and curled back under her blanket, knees drawn to her chest. She waited for that one person to show up and express their concerns about her health, but none came. Maybe she was all alone in the trailer. Odd. Where was everyone?

No sooner had the thought escaped her then Quarantine's front door open to reveal Grant. His smile faltered when seeing the awfully pale hybrid stare back at him. He slid off his hat and tossed it onto the kitchenette bar. "Morning." He took a seat on the edge of the couch and felt of her face. She still felt a bit warm. "Feeling any better?"

Pet falsely smiled and nodded her head. "Yeah. Still a bit sore. My chest hurts, head hurts...nose wont stop dripping everywhere and to hell with this coughing..." But only because it made her upset stomach hurt even more.

"Need any thing? Pain meds?" Pet shook her head. She didn't like putting any kind of medication on an empty stomach and since she was still nauseous, she'd rather not put _anything _on it. "You sure?"

Again the woman nodded. "Yeah. I'm just a bit sleepy is all."

Grant gave her a soft kiss on the forehead. "Robert should be back in a minute. He was helping Derek move something."

"Okay" Pet yawned out.

"Get some rest, hon. I'll be back in a little while to check on you." With that, the scientist left the trailer.


	144. A Little Too Paranoid

**144 - A Little Too Paranoid**

The few days following passed by in a blur for Pet, seeing how she mostly slept through them. She's wake only long enough to sit in the shower and try to eat something. She was able to keep food and drink down, which made her more than happy about this. She could deal with the fever, sweats, coughing, nasal drainage and or congestion and body aches but the nausea? Nope. Not happening.

It felt good to be back working on the dig. Pet had her usual tools in her hands and busied her self with scraping and chipping away dirt and rock. Derek cracking a usual sarcastic comment brought a smile and slap from the hybrid, the man convinced she was feeling herself.

Days gave way to weeks and before long, it was April. The woman bit into a piece of catfish smothered with ketchup and intently watched a news broadcast being covered on the TV mounted to the wall of a small diner. She wiped at her face with the thin paper napkin, eyes never leaving the screen displaying the words 'Mascom successfully launches Glinda satellite' beneath a video recording of such event.

The screen then panned over to show a female news anchor questioning an all too familiar face and name to Pet, Simon Masrani. The woman questioned. "What purpose will Glinda serve?"

"Well," Simon began. "Mascom Network has been working hard to create what we all hope will provide weather observing teams on the ground a better understanding of storm patterns. After several successful experiments, we within my company and those as Mascom felt Glinda was ready to take its place above our Earth."

Derek snorted behind a bite of burger. "Pathetic. This guy is trying way too hard."

Grant took a drink of his water. "Either way...He still makes more money than you so it must be working."

Derek glared at the scientist and shook his head. "Only because he inherited it from his daddy."

Pet nudged her friend in the side. "Jealous your daddy didn't leave you with millions in the bank?"

"Pfft" he responded, shoving a fry into his mouth. "My father can kiss my ass."

After the three finished their dinner, they rejoined the others at the dig site. Pet remained inside the Jeep and stretched out in the driver's seat. It wasn't often she got to drive and knew if Muldoon caught her driving, would get upset. He was constantly worried about her getting pulled over for some stupid reason and her busted for not having a real form of ID. Not to mention, her not existing once her name was ran through the system. Sometimes, he was a little too paranoid.

Derek growled at her, "Get out of the car, Pet! You know the shit I'd get in if-" He stopped in mid sentence when sensing someone standing behind him. He shot a backwards glance over his shoulder. "Hey Uncle Rob..." The try hard smile on his face wasn't enough to win him any points.

"What did I tell you?"

Derek's smile sunk to a frown. "Uh... yeah, look-"

"And you!" Muldoon aimed a finger at Pet, next. "How many times do I have to tell you to _not drive?!_"

Pet hissed a snort. "What's the point of having a car if I don't drive it! Come on, Robert..." She got out of the driver's seat to follow the angry man into the trailer. Grant felt it best to stay out of it and held back with Derek. The conversing between the two could still be heard, even with them inside the trailer. "I'm super careful when I drive! I don't speed, I always slow down at yellow lights... I come to a complete stop at stop signs and look both ways before proceeding through a yield sign."

Derek sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Here we go again."

Muldoon shot back, "And what about if some wanker wrecks into you, hmm? Or you get pulled over because a break light is out? There's countless scenarios to get pulled over by! It doesn't matter how careful and to the T you are with the driving rules! There's always that chance of shit happening!"

Pet could be heard snorting a screech. "And I guess you expect me to just sit there and watch everyone else drive the Jeep that my dad bought for me."

Grant scratched at his chin. "I think I have some work to do at the dig."

"I'll join you" Derek exclaimed and the two men left the trailer, allowing the heated conversation to be washed out amongst the volunteers chatting.

* * *

**My apologies for the chapters being so short compared to the originals. My brain is still jumbled and trying to sort through the mess its been stuck in for the past couple days. Its starting to get back on track and refocus...Just got a little too excited and ahead of myself :(**


	145. Burnt Popcorn and Tranquilizers

**I was feeling in a bit of a joking mood, after finishing a drawing, so I came up with this.**

* * *

**1****45 - Burnt Popcorn and Tranquilizers**

Pet nosed around in the fridge, pushing aside a half full gallon of milk to reach to the far back for a small, unopened bottle of grape juice. Derek strode into the trailer, whistling to himself and carrying plaster covered gloves. He poked his head over the fridge door. "Heya Pet." The hybrid stood up and wiped at her nose, ignoring the sudden look of surprise paint the man's face. "The fuck happened to your eyes? Dr. Grant hit you or something?"

The hybrid glared at the man through puffy eyes and habitually snorted at the man, but couldn't due to nasal congestion. "No, smart ass. I'm sick, again."

The man gave the woman a head to toe look over. "You seem fairly well off for being sick. Wait are you sick, sick? Or just sick?"

Pet slimmed her gaze down on the man as she took a drink of juice. "What?"

Muldoon stepped out of the bathroom and instantly scowled at the woman. "What do you think you're doing out of bed?"

"I'm not going to vegetate in that damn bed _anymore_, Rob. I might be sick, but I'm not _that_ sick." She capped the juice bottle and sat it down on the bar. "I'm fine, okay? Well, not exactly fine, but I'm not dying either. Other than a bad headache, usual body aches, coughing, sneezing, farked up sinus issues and-"

"Bed. Now." The man pointed to the woman's bedroom, annoyed when she didn't oblige. Pet crossed her arms over her chest in defiance. "If I have to, I'll tranquilize your ass."

Still she didn't move. Derek chuckled. "Hold that thought. Let me make some popcorn, first, because this is going to be quite the show!"

Pet cocked her head. "Are there even any left? I thought Derek used them all on Terrence."

"Not all. There were 4 darts. I used 2 on Terrence and the third..." Derek called out while shuffling through the many boxes of oatmeal, instant mashed potatoes and hamburger helpers in the pantry. "I used on Boy Scout."

"_What?_" She tried to snort again. "When?"

"Uh...It was when you two were seeing each other." The young man cheered to himself when finding the last bag of popcorn. "Ah hah!" He turned around to see a raptor eyed Pet glare at him angrily. "What does it matter to you? You two aren't seeing each other anymore."

"Its the fact of the matter, now when did you-"

"Forget I said anything." He ripped open the plastic bag and shoved the popcorn in the microwave, setting it to 10 minutes. He never liked using the pre-set popcorn option as the kernels never cooked all the way. It was easier to just set it to 10 minutes and stand there, listening to it until the bag stopped popping.

The hybrid grumbled and cur her eyes down on Muldoon. Since Derek seemed to preoccupied with the popcorn bag, she didn't think he'd notice her. So she strode into the bunk room, Muldoon watching her in question and raised a brow. He had a feeling he knew what she was up to, but wanted to see for himself. Minutes later, sure enough out of the bunk room the hybrid came with the assembled tranquilizer gun in hand.

"Hey little shit" Pet growled, Derek looking away from the microwave to see the tranquilizer aimed right at him.

"_Oh shit_!" He bolted for the trailer's front door only to fall short when a sharp pain stung him in the lower back. "You bi-" but his words fell short when he hit the floor, unconscious.

Just in time, too, as Terrence opened the front door. He took one look at the unconscious man on the floor and instantly noticed the dart. "YES" he cheered, laughing and entering the trailer. "Karma serves you right, you little shit."

Behind him was Grant, wide eyed and startled at the scene. His blue eyes looked up to the sneering hybrid, tranquilizer gun in hand, and questioned. "Was that really necessary?"

Pet shrugged, taking a high five from Terrence. "Did you know he shot Billy with this at one point?" Something sinister and scheming panned through the scientist's eyes, it drawing concern from the hybrid. "But something tells me you already knew that..." With one hand, she sat the gun on the counter while planting another hand on her hip. "You had something to do with it, didn't you?"

Terrence opened the microwave after smelling the popcorn start to burn and was instantly went into a coughing spell at the wave of smoke billowing in his face. "Who was making the popcorn?" The wave of smoke set off the trailer's fire alarm, Pet and Grant not concerned with it.

Muldoon instantly began fanning the alarm as Terrence stepped past the two confronting people to take the bag outside. Pet stopped him, however, and took the bag from him and opened it instead. She began eating it, not caring some of the pieces were a light shade of grey. "Am I right?" She continued in question, narrowing her eyes down on the scientist.

"Well..." Grant gave her a sideways smile. "I might've put the idea in Derek's head."

"I knew it" Pet growled in a sneer. "You sneaky and mischievous old man."

The man laughed out in disbelief. "_Old?_"

Muldoon yelled to Terrence, "Open the bloody door, will you?" Terrence did so, being mindful to step over Derek, and watched the air start to clear in the trailer.

Huddled over the partially unearthed fossil was Billy, his attention quickly ripping off his work and to Quarantine spewing smoke from the front door. The fire alarm blaring away could be heard even louder from within the trailer. He huffed a laugh and got up, not bothering to dust himself off when sprinting to the trailer. A wave of dust as thick as the popcorn's smoke trailed after him.

Billy poked his head into Quarantine and didn't know what to ask about first. "I would ask what's going on but I'm afraid to, now." He looked from Derek sprawled on the floor to Pet smiling over a burnt bag of popcorn and finally to Terrence unplugging the microwave.

Pet swallowed a bit of popcorn to inquisitively look to the senior scientist. "Want me to tell him or are you?"

Billy was even more confused. "Tell me what?" Grant rolled his eyes off his protégé and over to the hybrid, wearing a rather triumphant smirk as she shoved another handful of partially burnt popcorn into her mouth.


	146. Breakthrough

**146 - Breakthrough**

Jacobs didn't recall creating I-10 HY being this difficult, before. Yeah, it took months of tireless work to make it happen, though accidental, but it still happened. By now, he had already been working to recreate a hybrid for roughly 7 months. The man slid off his glasses to rub at his strained eyes and sighed. A part of the man that had become paranoid and ever looking over his shoulder, took a moment to glance behind him to see he and his team was alone. No unwanted pair of eyes gawking through the lab's window like a vulture to its dying prey. Satisfied, Jacobs slid back on his glasses and resumed working.

Hours later, it was as though magic had happened. "I did it" he breathed out in shock. "I did it." He laughed in success and loudly cheered, "I did it!" Jacobs clapped his hands together and sprang to his feet, knocking his stool over and disquieting his co-workers. "Ha!"

Jacobs celebrated his breakthrough for a couple more moments before coming to a dead calm. His glasses framed eyes shot over to the window to see Simon Masrani watching on. There was an obvious smile underneath his short trimmed beard. The CEO had given up his goatee in exchange for a beard just a couple months previously.

The scientist dared not move in the dark, coal like stare he was receiving. Simon raised a hand and gestured with his fingers for the other to join him, Jacobs having no choice but to.

* * *

Bold letters reading **Y2K Draws Near** highlighted the morning's newspaper. Derek scoffed. "Y2K this, Y2K that. Its the end of the world! 2000 is only 5 months away, still, and people are acting like its tomorrow! Only an imbecile would believe this shit." He folded up the paper and tossed it aside.

About that time, Billy came into Quarantine with the morning paper in his hand. "Hey guys!" He held up the paper to show the front page. "Read the latest and greatest?"

Pet stated over her working on a crossword puzzle. "Yup. We were just discussing it."

The junior scientist took a seat next to the hybrid. "I sure hope the computers and stuff like that don't crash out like what's being predicted could happen." He studied the woman gnawing on the top of her pen. "You don't think it'll really be the end of the world, do you?"

Derek sat, silent and staring deadpan at Billy. "Please tell me you're joking."

Terrence helped himself to one of the hash brows sitting on a paper towel next to the stove and sat it down on his plate. A pile of scrambled eggs and two sausage links with a couple pieces of toast also filled the plate. He took a seat on the couch and began to feast away at his breakfast. "I'd hate to be in the office right about now."

Pet furrowed her brow. "Office? What would be so exciting about the game warden shack right now?"

"I'm not talking about _that_ office. I'm talking about my old office." Terrence shoved a bite of eggs into his mouth. "I used to be a psychiatrist."

"Whaaaat?" Pet instantly forgot about the cross word puzzle to spin around in the booth like table seat to stare at her friend. "You're joking..."

"No, I'm not."

"You're not" Pet continued. "So you have a doctorates in psychiatry?" Terrence nodded.

Derek snorted. "That explains a lot."

The hybrid ignored him to continue her questioning him. "So what made you want to be a game warden?"

The man shrugged. "Got tired of sitting in an office all day, wearing a suit and listening to people go on and on, week after week about the bullshit. No matter how I tried to help them or what advice I gave them, they still had the exact same problem every visit. I got bored of it." He shoved a bite of sausage into his mouth, wiping away the grease from his mouth with the back of his hand. "I've always been an outside type of person. Hiking, exploring, camping, hunting, fishing...stuff like that. So naturally I got interested in doing work out doors."

Muldoon finished cooking breakfast before making him a plate and sitting down next to Derek. "Anyone seen Roland?"

Derek stretched out in the seat. "Who cares? I'm surprised he's still around. I thought he was only going to be here for a little while. How long is a little while to that guy? He's already been here 10 months. Doesn't he have a home?"

"He's been known to be gone for months at a time when on one of his long hunting trips."

"Yeah, but..." Derek shrugged. "There's no rhinos or lions, here. So why is he still around?"

Pet sighed and looked over to the bounty hunter. "Its called loyalty to friends, dumb ass. If you had friends you'd know what that's about."

Derek mockingly laughed at the hybrid. The trailer door opened to reveal a freshly showered Grant, his hair still wet and slicked back. A girlish smile upturned the woman's features as a sparkle danced in her eyes. He began to make him a plate, Pet looking to Billy. "Move."

The junior scientist agreed. "Yep" and relocated himself on the couch.

Grant sat down next to Pet as Derek's chocolate eyes enlarged when seeing a red mark play peek a boo from beneath the man's shirt collar. "Holy hell, Doc! Either that's one hell of a hickie or Pet bit you!" Muldoon harshly elbowed his nephew in the side, but it didn't stop the younger man. His attention was now on the hybrid. "Pet, did you bite him last night?" The woman's raptor eyed, unblinking stare slightly unnerved the man. "You did! You little vampire, you!"

Pet kicked the man in the shin. "Shut up, asshole!"

Derek wheezed out, "That's so hot," while massaging the sore spot on his leg.


	147. Laying It All on the Table

**Now that my brain is back on track, pressing forwards!**

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**147 - Laying It All On The Table**

Wednesday and with it, poker night. There was question on if there should still be a poker night, seeing how Roland and Pet had the great idea of taking Billy out hunting. Using the .600 Nitro Express. It had been hard for the hybrid to keep a straight face every time she mentally imagined how Billy would handle the recoil of the double barrel rifle. For Roland, he wore a straight face all too convincingly. Neither cared if the rifle would be extreme overkill for something like a wild pig or coyote. They just wanted to see the look on the junior scientist's face.

As for Grant, he hadn't been himself the past couple days and he knew it. He didn't mean to be short tempered or distant from anyone, especially her, but he had been under a lot of stress. At least, that was the excuse he was using. Truth be told, he was a bit stressed, but that much to let it completely change him altogether. Only one person knew what was really bothering him and was greatly relieved he had their support.

This same person studied the troubled man from over the top of their glass when taking a drink of whiskey and frowned. Seeing Grant's glass empty, Muldoon uncorked the whiskey bottle and poured a drink for the other. The scientist appreciated the act of kindness and weakly smiled. Derek saw this and wondered what it was that was bothering the usually composed man. He cleared his throat, questioning. "So, uh, what's been bothering you, there, buddy?" Grant didn't want to talk about it, least of all to Derek, and replied with a stern glare. "Okie dokie, then" he chided, tapping his handful of cards on the table. "Let me guess, Pet been stingy...if you know what I mean..."

"It's none of your business" the senior scientist growled back under his breath.

"Whoa, touchy, touchy!" Derek set his cards face down and leaned back in his chair, studying the man seated to his left. "And just to reality check you, pal, she's like a sister to me so yeah, it is my business."

Muldoon cut in. "Shut your mouth, Derek, and stay out of this."

"Oh, so you're in on this too, huh?" The bounty hunter leaned in over the table, arms still crossed. "The plot thickens." His examining stare shifted from his uncle and to Grant, deeply confused on what was going on. "Look, if you're going to dump her at least let her down gently."

The older man was doing his best to keep his calm, but Derek had a great way of getting under his skin and irritating him. "I'm not going to break things off with her, okay? The last thing I want to do is loose her, again."

"Then why so moody the past few days? You're almost as bad as Pet during one of her 'moods'." He took a sip of his beer, never looking away from the other. "So really, what's wrong?"

Giving up in hopes of the pressing conversation topic dropping, Grant gave in. Might as well face it than try to continue running from it. "Nica's birthday is Sunday."

"Okay?... And the problem is what, exactly?"

Grant set his own cards down, grumbling in concern. "I want to do something special for her."

"But you don't know what..."

"Oh I know exactly what." He heaved a sigh. "Only problem is-"

"Will she like it..." Derek interrupted.

The scientist fell quiet a moment and stared off into space. "Will she say yes..."

Realization hit Derek squarely in the chest as he gasped in surprise. He sat, gaping in speechlessness as Grant became rigid in apparent horror. Blue eyes bore into the younger man across the table from him, clenching his jaw in the process. Taking his own calming breath, he asked, "You two have only been seeing each other, what, three months? Jumping the gun a little soon, aren't you?"

"6 months, actually" Grant calmly replied. "And I'd want to wait till next year before making plans for the next big step. Hell, I'm not even sure now is a good time."

Derek tilted his head to the side. "So why even consider it, then?"

Grant stared in disbelief at the younger man. "Why not? I care for her and haven't been this happy since..." He stopped, not wanting to mention Ellie's name out loud though everyone already knew what he was thinking.

"Fair enough, I suppose..." His chocolate eyes fell on his all too quiet uncle. "You seem a bit calm about all of this. Did you know?" Muldoon didn't say anything, but instead took another drink of whiskey. "Of course you knew..." He laughed in disbelief to himself.

Muldoon readjusted how he was sitting in his chair. "I've always been alright with the idea long before now."

Derek pressed his lips together in uncertainty. "I used to, till she got her heart ripped open." The young man lowered his voice to almost growl. "I don't want to see her like that again. She cares for you, which I can't figure out why but whatever, so pardon me for being concerned about her. She's already been through enough in life and the last thing I want is for her to get hurt again."

Grant leaned in closer to the younger man and spoke with a tone of seriousness even Muldoon didn't think was possible. "The last thing you have to worry about is me _ever_ hurting her again. I'll admit, I messed up in the past. But not this time. When I look at her, I see the other half of me and I don't know what I would do if I lost that."

"Good" Derek stated, taking another drink of his beer. "Then you have my permission to propose to her."

Grant lowered his brow at the bounty hunter. "As if it even mattered."


	148. What Makes a Birthday

***Dances and giggles in chair* I've been waiting to get to this and the next chapter, though chapter 149 still needs some proofing and adjusting. I'll post it before heading to bed.**

* * *

**148 - What Makes a Birthday**

Everything was almost ready to go for the dig site's BBQ and Pet's birthday party. All that was left was for Derek and Billy to return from town with the beer and any other special requested alcohol. Grant checked his watch, wondering where the two were given how long they had been gone. Even Muldoon wondered the same thing as he and Terrance tossed another log into the fire pit.

Muldoon spoke, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. "Might as well start working on getting this thing lit up. Derek and Boy Scout should be back any time, now."

Grant couldn't help but chuckle at the nickname given to his protégé, courtesy of everyone's favorite, smartass bounty hunter. "You know he hates that name, right?"

"What the bloody hell do I care what he hates?" And with that, turned and went back to the trailer on the other side of the excavation.

When he went inside, he expected to find the hybrid frantically worrying about what to wear, but instead found otherwise. The sniffing of a runny nose sounded behind the partially closed door of the woman's room, causing him to stop for a moment and listen. A heavy sigh following suit only verified the man's suspicions, him gently knocking on her bedroom door. He gently pushed it open, seeing the hybrid sitting in the dark on the edge of her bed, balled up.

He questioned in direct tone of voice. "What's got you all emotional?" He could barely see the features of the woman as she wiped at her eyes, sniffing back another sob. "Don't start getting all soft on me, now." Muldoon slowly sat down next to her, a bit worried about her seeing how she never really cried. Her other displays of strong emotions were typical as he thought nothing about her cunning scheming as a way of getting back at someone or aggressive tendencies when angered. But to see her emotionally breakdown to the point of tears wasn't her usual. "So what is it, this time? That bitch volunteer worker say something again?"

"I would've killed her" Pet growled back.

"Derek make another pass at you?"

"I would've castrated him."

Muldoon sighed and nodded. "No surprise. Then what has you all drama queen? Its your birthday for fucks sake. You should've been shit faced already, making a complete idiot of yourself."

Pet re-wrapped her arms around her legs, grumbling and resting her chin on her knees. "That's just it, Rob. What makes today so damn special versus any other day? Okay, yeah, sure it's my _birthday_" she mocked, "but how is it my birthday?" She met the other man's gaze the best she could between the light coming in through the cracked blinds. "I wasn't conceived like a normal person. I wasn't born like a normal person. I was created in a fucking test tube and grown in a slime filled vat. How is that even considered a proper birth? It's not."

The man sighed, unsure of how to respond to her dilemma. Finally he responded with the only explanation he knew how to give. "It's true, you weren't conceived or born like any other normal person, but then again, you're also not like anything or anyone else, either. And who's to say what a _proper_ birth is? I imagine a birth as something being complete in creation and brought into the world to begin their own life. The moment you were taken out of that vat and your umbilical ties severed, whether artificial or not, and allowed to take your first breath for yourself... you were born."

"I was recognized as an abomination, not a child."

Muldoon was offended by the word, abomination. "Who gives a damn about Hammond's opinion?"

"InGen, too."

"They can go fuck off for all I bloody care. " Both people sighed simultaneously and watched the glow of the bonfire become larger in the distance. "Despite what those bastards think, I'm extremely grateful for your creation." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, drawing her in for a hug. "And birth."

An explosion of emotion roared through the hybrid as she was unable to contain it anymore. She squeezed her eyes shut and broke down again in tears. Neither was sure how long they sat there, watching the glow of the fire becoming larger until finally, the very tips of the flicking flame could be seen. It wasn't long afterwards the obnoxious blaring of the Jeep horn could be heard approaching the dig, both people knowing Derek and Billy were returning from town.

Coming into view from around a tent was a slightly concerned Grant, his stride appearing as though on a mission. Muldoon affectionately gripped Pet's shoulder, grumbling. "Here comes your knight in shining armor."

The woman giggled behind residual sobs and wiped at her eyes. "More like a fossil covered in dust."

He hoped the arriving man would brighten the hybrid's spirits. The two had discussed the proposal plan, Grant preferring something private versus the more public, in front of everyone approach. Now seemed as good a time as any, Muldoon getting up to leave just as the trailer door opened.

Both men looked to the other, Grant noticing something wrong when looking at the other's tone of expression. He whispered. "Everything alright?"

Muldoon stepped past him to leave, stating in a voice low enough for only him to hear. "Now would be a good time to make my little girl happy."

"Change of plans" Grant whispered, a scheming smile and matching glint in his eye.

Before Grant would proceed past, he was stopped by a firm grip around his upper arm. "Don't fuck it up" Muldoon gruffly whispered. Knowing he had gotten his point across, the scarred man left the trailer to rejoin the others at the bonfire.


	149. Best Birthday Ever

**149 - Best Birthday Ever**

Subconsciously, Grant brought a hand to his pants pocket, where the ring box was and nodded to himself. He poked his head into Pet's, seeing the hybrid trying her best to compose herself. He faintly smiled to the woman's weak one and proceeded into the room. "Hey. Everything alright?"

She nodded, standing up to join him. "As much as I can be, for the moment." Her glazed over blue green eyes studied his smoke smudged features, her tilting her head to the side. "Although, I should be asking you the same thing."

"What?" He nervously swallowed and wiped away the forming sweat from his palms on his pants.

"Something's wrong. I can sense it." She took one of the sleeves of her shirt and wiped away a faint smudge of dirt from his cheek. "You should know by now, you can't hide anything from me. I smell fear, taste adrenaline and can hear panic in a person's heartbeat. Right now, you reek of absolute horror...and smoke." She closed the distance between them, taking his hands in hers. "And your pulse is racing, so I know something is wrong."

The scientist nervously laughed. "I want this to be a good birthday for you. Last year got rained out."

"Flooded out is more like it."

He extended a hand to the hybrid. "Come on. Let's get out there before they start the party without us." Pet nodded in agreement and hand in hand, they went to the bond fire. They took a place beneath a canopy, Grant excusing himself. "I'm going to go see what drinks the Little Shit and _Boy Scout_ brought back." Both people laughed, the man going back to his trailer.

He wasn't too surprised to find a plethora of eager faces look at him. Derek twisted off the cap to a beer. "Well? Did she say yes?"

Grant looked to Terrence. "Watch the door and say anything should she come this way."

"Gotcha" the man agreed and leaned in the open door way, nonchalantly looking outwards to the excavation.

Meanwhile, the senior scientist took the ring box out of his pocket and sat it on the kitchenette bar. He then went to the cabinet to retrieve two nice champagne glasses. "Tell me you got the champagne" he questioned, looking at Derek.

The bounty hunter smiled. "Yes I did." He reached into a paper bag to reveal a bottle of the requested drink. "And let me tell you, this was some expensive stuff."

Grant opened the ring box to reveal silver band with a series of diamonds circling around a larger diamond in the middle. "But not as expensive as this." He then carefully dropped the ring into one of the glasses. "Make sure Veronica gets _this_ glass." His blue eyes refocused themselves on the younger man's chocolate brown ones. "Got it?"

"Crystal clear."

"Good."

Terrence spoke loud enough for the others to hear. "Incoming."

Grant hastily went to the door to stop the woman from entering. "Time to start the party" he nervously stated.

"Okay..." Pet studied him in question as she allowed herself to be drug back to the canopy.

The senior scientist could tell the site volunteers were getting antsy and cleared his throat to get their attention. "My apologies, Ladies and Gentlemen, for the delay. Now that the party favors have arrived, we can get things going." The people laughed, many of them already having their drink of choice in hand. "Now I know Sundays are our usual nights for this sort of thing, but tonight merits a special occasion." He drew his lady companion to his side by wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Today is Veronica's birthday and it was her special request to celebrate it with a BBQ." The more he spoke, the more Pet could sense his unease start to get the best of him. He was beginning to sweat, which wasn't like the man at all. What was going on? "I decided to start tonight off with a little toast." Behind them was Derek, his back turned to the two people as he poured the champagne in the two glasses. He made certain to hold the special glass just right so the woman wouldn't see what awaited her inside. He turned, handing the glasses to the people as Pet was too distracted with the anxiety ridden man to pay attention to her glass. Grant raised his glass to the woman and stated, "To a new year for you and hopefully, a better life."

The woman raised her glass, too, and nodded. "Cheers to that."

She tipped up the glass and took a swig, stopping when something hit her mouth. She threw a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide in horror. What had that little shit done to her drink? She glared sourly at Derek who only wore a cheeky grin. The more she felt of the foreign object from her drink with her tongue, the more she realized something definitely wasn't right. Was that...a _ring_? She held it with her teeth as she swallowed her drink.

Grant had forgotten to breathe. Did she just swallow the ring? _Did she really just swallow it?_ He watched her spit it out and the look on her face when realizing what it was couldn't have been more of a cue for the man. He took in a deep breath, hoping to calm his nerves, and knelt down on one knee. Instantly, Pet's eyes widened more than they had been and her mouth fell open in realizing what was going to happen next.

Grant took her hand holding the ring and questioned, "Veronica Renee Hammond, I would love nothing more than to have you as my wife. Will you marry me?"

She didn't know what to say. Scratch that; knew what to say, but couldn't get her mouth to form the words. Derek could see she was about to drop the glass and he took it from, just as he done with the scientist's. Pet whimpered and brought her hands to her still gaping mouth.

"Oh shit..." the hybrid wheezed out, her on the brink of hyperventilating. A barked out cry escaped her as she desperately tried to frantically fan-dry the forming tears. "Yes!" the hybrid choked out. She could feel her knees start to buckle, suddenly feeling light headed.

Grant slid the ring onto the woman's finger, never looking away from her priceless expression. Both people collided in an emotional hug as cheers and applauses echoed the dig site air. Pet pulled him in for a kiss, the man not usually one for public display of affections like this, but didn't care at that moment. The hybrid was all tears when the kiss ended, her unable to let go of the man.

He spoke in her ear, "Happy birthday, love."


	150. History Repeats

**150 - History Repeats**

Grant watched an Alka-Seltzer dance at the bottom of his morning water glass with glossed over and half lidded eyes. His stomach hadn't been this messed up nor his head feeling as though about to split open like this in a very long time. Since...Since Ellie had left. But all that was in the past, now. Things were looking to be different and in a much better way. His blood shot blue eyes lazily rolled in their sockets to study the hybrid next to him, looking much the same as him.

Pet swished her water glass around, lightly burping and swallowing in grimace. "What did I drink last night?"

Derek shoveled a mouthful of syrup dripping pancakes into his mouth as his eyes darted from side to side when reading the morning comics. "I don't know. Whatever Cue Ball was making..."

Grant studied the bounty hunter in question. "Who on Earth is Cue Ball?"

Pet answered, "Roland" and took a drink of her Seltzer water. She didn't like the texture of the fizzes and wrinkled her nose at it when swallowing. "I haven't been this hung over since Isla Sorna."

Terrence, busy buttering toast in the kitchen, chuckled. "What, did you make some type of alcohol fermented fruit and berry alcohol during the years you were out there?"

"No" Pet grumbled, frowning.

Muldoon finished pouring him a glass of juice and answered. "Why don't you tell them about that little event, Pet."

The hybrid sunk lower in her seat. "I got myself into trouble, once."

Derek snickered. "Something tells me this was before you were 21..."

"I was young and stupid and thought I was a big girl and snuck into Rob's whiskey stash." Derek and Terrence busted into laughing, making the woman's cheeks turn red in fluster. "I was so shit faced."

Muldoon huffed his own laugh. "When I finally found her, she was staggering down the road and heading towards Tyrannosaur territory, singing some whatever it was song at the top of her voice."

Pet cracked a smile. "I remember that. What song was that, again?"

"I don't remember." The man took a drink of his juice and smiled at the memory. "I made sure you never forgot that night, though."

"Yeah, the next day sucked _bad!_ You ran my ass all over the place until I was sick. Oh man did that day suck." She took another drink of her Seltzer water. "The look on Dad's face was priceless."

Grant cocked a smile and arched a brow at the woman. "How did that go over?"

"He tried to ground me."

Muldoon continued her story. "And then she threw up on his shoes."

Pet giggled, Derek licking the ring of syrup off his lips. "I bet Hammond flipped his shit over that."

The hybrid ceased her giggles long enough to answer. "He lost more than that."

Both hybrid and guardian laughed at the memory, the others smiling in mental imaging. Derek questioned. "How old were you when that happened?"

"16..."

"_What!?_" Derek's dark eyes snapped over to his uncle. "You could've got in some serious shit for contributing to a minor!"

The man calmly sat down next to his nephew. "As I told Hammond, if she thinks she's big girl enough to do what she did, then she can take the consequences like a big girl." His blue eyes squared down on the woman. "I guarantee you this much, though...after that, she listened when I told her not to do something."

Derek studied the hybrid. "I don't think she learned her lesson after that night, though, otherwise she wouldn't be hung over now."

"I regret nothing. It was a good night last night" the woman smiled out. Her eyes met Grant's as they shared a smile.

Roland came into the trailer, buttoning the last button on his white shirt, and went to the stack of pancakes on a big plate by the stove. He stopped, though, to take a look at the hybrid and subtly smiled. He could easily tell she felt like crap. "Morning, Veronica."

She growled, "I hate you." The man laughed at the comment and began making him a plate. "What the hell did you give me to drink, last night?"

"A real alcohol and not that bottled piss water you normally drink." Pet rolling her eyes only amused the hunter even more.

* * *

Eight AM and finally, after seven and a half months of scientists diligently working, another hybrid was to be created. Everything looked almost the same as it did to Jacobs all those years ago in Kenya as a prepared, fluid filled vat sat on a lab table. His stomach churned in anxiousness. What would become of this specimen? Would it be killed after creation? Would it die shortly after? All his thoughts and concerns would soon be answered and come to light throughout the months of the specimen's growing.

Jacobs looked to his lead assistant scientist, a younger man in his 20s and Indian in decent. "Let's begin, shall we?"

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**Views have gone down drastically versus how they used to be, especially since last week. I guess I done goofed somewhere and that initial intrigue this project garnered has dwindled v_v I plan on continuing on with this project, given how much it means to me and how badly I want to see it completed. Its only been a work in progress off and on since 97-98. Not sure how the rest of it will be received, given its mixed content. But to those readers who have continued to follow this story since chapter 1, I greatly appreciate your views and continuous fandom. Its the little spark from it that's fueled the motivation for me to press on thus far. **


	151. Alive For A Reason

**151 - Alive For A Reason**

Attempt after attempt to bring to life another human-raptor hybrid failed. Six months, it had been, and yet nothing productive to show for in reflection of the months of hard work. Just as the previous 4 felled attempts, the vat had been thoroughly cleaned and prepared for the team's fifth go. But Jacobs didn't have it in him. His psyche still ached in memory of the disappointed talk he got from Mr. Masrani.

The CEO's last words burned and with it, the boiling of Jacobs's blood. "Whatever future project you seemed a viable prospect for, consider yourself removed from."

Whatever the hell Masrani had planned most likely had something to do with genetics. And why was he so damned insistent on having another hybrid created? Wasn't the mistake that I-10 HY proved to be for InGen not enough proof that something like that alive on Earth was a bad idea? Not to mention, the wealthy man's determination to have it created 'in a timely manner'. What the hell? What, did this man expect instant miracles?

Each time a new specimen was created, it seemed to do well enough for roughly a month and a half before failing. At least one good thing was learned from studying the dead specimens; the illness was in fact removed from the raptor side of the bloodline. No matter how many times the specimens failed, Jacobs always became troubled and unable to stick around when an autopsy was done.

It tore the man apart every time. The first time the specimen died, he got sick and had to take the next couple days off. Whether a man made, lab created specimen, it was still a life. Even if that life had the potential to crash an entire science based empire like InGen. The legal issues that would ensue and the jobs lost. It didn't matter.

Jacobs began to think back on his first creation and how excited he was at being selected, given Hammond's all star geneticist, Dr. Henry Wu, being tied up with another project elsewhere. But, Jacobs lost his potential to possibly out shine Wu when being temporarily suspended from InGen following an investigation post the 'sabotaged' disaster I-10 HY was. No. No more calling her that. In light of the recent disasters that plagued the man and having to witness each little life passing before him, he came to realize and appreciate what his original creation was.

"Pet" he whispered to himself and smiled.

Yeah, she might have been a mouthy, arrogant and feisty kid at times, but she was still truly something unique that couldn't be duplicated. How or why she defied the odds to live as long as she did through everything working against her only proved it wasn't _just him_ who created her. There was a higher force looking out for that little girl and she was allowed to live for a reason; this he was beginning to understand.

As he sat there, staring off into space in the direction of the once again prepared vat, Jacobs remembered everything starting from the beginning. Hammond's angry yelling at his lead game warden to either shoot or feed the 'abomination' to the lions. And in a single minute, Jacobs witnessed a troubled man become anew. Was that why she had been allowed to live by whatever higher force deemed appropriate? To bring the best out of people?

The man sniffed back a tear that had found its way down his cheek. In embarrassment to himself, he wiped it away. After straightening himself back into professional composure, he found his eyes staring back at the vat...empty, waiting. "Are you even still alive, my little Pet project?"

* * *

SPLAT! Pet instantly seized up after getting hit in the side of the head with a snow ball. She snorted in annoyance and cut her eyes down on Derek taking cover behind his Challenger. The hybrid tugged off her black beanie and shook off the bits of snow clinging to the wool fabric. SPLAT! Another snow ball managed to hit her squarely in the cheek, its icy chill sharp and a bit painful to the cold sensitive hybrid. A chill snaked down her spine and she shivered in response to.

Another snowball came towards her, but she ducted to avoid it. "You're so dead" she growled and charged after Derek. When he tried running around his car for protection, he found it unsuccessful as she leapt onto the hood of it.

"That's bullshit" he said and took off running around Quarantine to avoid getting pounced on.

He tore through the dig site but didn't make it very far when a strong force collided into him, knocking him off his feet and sending him into a snow bank. He laid there, imbedded into the snow and unable to breathe. Pet popped him upside his cheek with a heavy, woolen glove while grinding a handful of snow into his face.

Little did she know.

Standing off in the distance and tightly compacting his own snowball was Muldoon. Terrence arched a brow at him. "She's going to be pissed if you actually hit her with it."

"I've been waiting years to do this" he calmly stated, grabbing another handful of snow to add to the growing ball.

After a few minutes of watching the two people wrestle in the snow, with Derek predictably being pinned down, the snow ball was now the size of a softball. Its slick surface glistened in the sun peeking in between the cloud cover over head.

"That is going to hurt." Terrence watched the older man walk away, snow ball in hand.

Pet had Derek pinned down and face down in the snow. "Yeah, how do you like that, hmm?"

Muldoon sharply whistled, the hybrid habitually looking up. WHAM! Pet fell backwards off Derek as she clutched at her side, whimpering. She laid in the snow, frantically rubbing at her side. She could see the man come into view as he helped his nephew off the ground. "What the fuck did you just hit me with? A baseball?"

Derek looked at the pieces of the shattered snow ball and laughed. "You just got wrecked, Pet."

The hybrid got to her feet and continued to rub at her side. "That hurt!"

Muldoon sighed at the hybrid. "You're getting weak on me, Pet. Used to be a stampede of Zebra wouldn't keep you down. You'd be all busted up and bloody...I hit you with a snow ball and you turn pansy."

"That was also years ago when I actively did stuff like that. I haven't chased a Zebra in years. Nor wrestled leopards..." Her face twisted into surprise. "I haven't even chased down and hunted anything since last summer. I miss that feeling of ripping something to shreds with my bare hands."

Grant, who was approaching the conversing three, stopped to examine the hybrid intently upon hearing her last words spoken. Derek laughed. "What do you mean? You tear poor Alan up on a weekly basis!" He looked over at the not so amused scientist. "I mean, uh, Dr. Grant. Glad you could join us."

Blue eyes of the paleontologist shifted over to Pet. "Sorry to bother your little fun and games, Nica, but can I talk to you for a minute?"

Pet, who had taken the moment of going unnoticed, took a handful of snow she had grabbed and shoved it down Derek's shirt and coat. "Oh shit! Cold! Very cold!" The bounty hunter fluffed out his shirt and coat to shake out the snow. "Going down the pants! Oh shi-"

Pet laughed and scampered off into the office trailer, closing the door behind her.


	152. Because of Low Funds

**152 - Because of Low Funds...**

The following months crept by slowly, winter giving way to spring followed by summer until another autumn was on the approach. Pet sat in the passenger seat of the Jeep as Derek drove, the hybrid dreadfully quiet and twirling the engagement ring around on her finger. The man gave her a sideways examination. "So..." he probed. "When's the big day? I haven't heard much of anything since the question was popped almost year go."

Pet shrugged. "We've talked about it off and on. We were talking about a fall wedding, but I decided against it." She met the off put brown eyes staring wildly at her. "It was either drop the rest of Alan's site funding on a nice wedding or continue doing what we can for the dig. I know how much the dig means to him and I don't want to take that away from him. I've gone all this time without a complete happy ending. I think I can go a little bit longer. Hell, I'm just happy I have this!" She flashed the diamond in the sunlight, it filling the Jeep cab with an explosion of sparkles.

"I see" Derek answered with. He accepted the answer as he did in fact know, the dig site was starting to dwindle on funds.

Grant had been making cut backs to spending and had even cut the site BBQs down to a quarterly event versus monthly. Things felt overall slower at less lively at the dig. Not that anyone could blame the senior scientist in his decisions. His work was his life and to have nothing to dig up and study would probably drive the man insane.

As much as he hated speaking in public and giving speeches, he'd broken down to schedule guest appearances at colleges and museums to try and help promote awareness of his work. Not like much awareness needed to be made. Anytime anyone heard the name Alan Grant, he was automatically associated with 'that one time on an island known as Jurassic Park'. He hated it and everyone at the dig site knew this. Pet, most of all knew it. Even more so when he would return to the dig site after a guest appearance only to go off on a tangent about the endless questions he'd been asked regarding the island. Pet would only giggle at him and do her best to ease his stress and over excitement on not wanting to relive the nightmare of the park.

Autumn crept by and with it, the date that had been so long ago planned to be the wedding. Pet sighed when crossing out the day on the calendar. She plopped back down on her bed and stretched out, staring at the ceiling in absolute boredom. Her fiancé wouldn't be back for another 3 days as he was off in the neighboring state of North Dakota on yet another attempt to gain excavation sponsors for funding.

* * *

Thanksgiving and Pet fervently worked in the kitchen to make the final touches on the holiday dinner. She had gotten a lot better at cooking, but still wasn't trusted enough to cook the turkey. At least she had gotten to cook the ham, which was an improvement over last year's being limited to just the chocolate and pumpkin pies.

She slipped on a pair of oven mitts and yanked the oven door open to pull out the ham. She sat the dish containing the foil wrapped chunk of meat on a folded dish towel next to the stove. The hybrid took a deep inhalation of the aroma wafting out of the foil and licked her lips. "Smells so good" she stated as she pried open the foil to take a gander at it.

Derek, who was arranging dinner rolls on a baking sheet, commented. "Now if it only tastes good..." The man was hit with an oven mitt but he didn't care.

The rest of the food was cooked and within the hour, dinner ready. Quarantine's occupants as well as Grant and Billy came together and feasted on the delicious smelling food. Compliments were given to the cooks, Pet proud she had succeeded at cooking a good ham.

Leftovers were enjoyed for the days following until back to living off hot dogs, can soups, hamburger helpers and the occasional cooked meal.

November turned to December and with it, volunteer workers decorating their trailers in holiday cheer. At night, the dig site took on an early Christmas Wonderland appearance as multicolored Christmas lights filled the otherwise bland atmosphere. It looked even more so when snow blanketed the ground. One middle aged man, a rather friendly but lonely individual, made a fairly tall snow man outside his trailer using what snow he could collect from around the dig site.

Even the tent covering and protecting the fossil had a string of rainbow colored lights tacked onto it. Grant didn't mind it, as it helped with morale amongst the remaining volunteer workers, but he sure hated the extension cord. Didn't matter how many times he told himself to watch out for it, he always managed to get tangled up in it or trip over it whether coming or going from the tent. That also went for the other collections of extension cords running the ground throughout the site.

Generator powered space heaters were placed in the work tents where people frequently worked. The fossil preparation tent, the plastering tent and the primary fossil excavation tent all had a heater in them of a sort to help keep workers warm. Pet, however, chose to stay mostly indoors and opted to work on what she could from there. She hated the cold and could only tolerate it for a short time before having to retreat indoors to warm up. It was times like now that she really missed Kenya and the islands.


	153. Business With Dr Wu

**153 - Business With Dr. Wu**

Dr. Henry Wu stared at the headquarters that had once belonged solely to InGen. Now it shared space with a branch of Masrani Global Corporation. The scientist stood there on the sidewalk, thinking back on the reason for his being asked to come to Palo Alto, California. Business. The CEO of the corporation empire wanted to speak with him about serious matters and how he, a leading geneticist, could help. The Chinese American nodded to himself and strode up to the double glass doors, tugging one open to go inside.

After a few minutes of venturing through the building, the man found himself face to face with Simon Masrani within the man's spacious office. The wealthy CEO motioned to a comfortable looking chair situated before his desk. "Please, sit." Wu did so, eager to know what business it was needing to be discussed. "Thank you for meeting me on such short notice, Dr." Wu nodded in acknowledgement, Simon continuing. "I've been keeping track of your accomplishments," Simon resumed, thumbing through a manila folder on his desk. "Since integrating InGen with my company and I must say, I am very much impressed."

"Thank you, sir" Wu politely replied.

"Your work on _Karacosis wutanis_ is quite remarkable. No doubt, a stepping stone towards much larger plans?"

The geneticist wasn't sure where the other man was going, but went along with it regardless. "I have a few in mind, yes."

"Ah." Simon drummed his finger tips together and studied the brilliant scientist with an intensity that made Wu a bit more anxious. "Hopefully my business proposition, then, won't keep you from achieving your plans." He politely smiled to which the scientist returned.

"What would that be, if you don't mind me asking?"

Straight to the point, Simon noted, and smiled wider because of. He liked this guy. "To return to a lead geneticist position in cloning prehistoric creatures." Wait, what? That wasn't the answer Wu was expecting to hear and wrinkled his face in absolute bafflement. "I admire the idea and devotion John Hammond had and wish to... _build_... on that."

"You're wanting to make another park? To _remake_ Jurassic Park?"

"Not just a park, Dr. _A world_." And with that, Wu fell completely quiet in contemplation. Something in the way the CEO had said world brought a shudder to the Dr. This man was up to something.

* * *

Two hours had passed as Dr. Wu let the glass door of the headquarters close in his wake. He was so caught up in what he had just learned and been offered that he didn't bother to notice if someone coming of the building behind him. He only thought about it after reaching the first stair leading down to the driving circle in front of the multi story building. When he turned around to look behind him, he found himself in relief. No one. Good. The last thing he ever wanted to do was come off rude.

His mind found its self back on the idea of there being plans for another dinosaur themed park. Wasn't the continuous disaster after disaster leading up to the first park's failure not enough to deter the man? Or maybe the felled amphitheater the once mighty Peter Ludlow thought so highly about? San Diego? Even people in third world countries had heard about the San Diego Incident. The final nail in InGen's coffin, as in company employees knew it as.

And yet, here was another individual thinking they could master what the others had failed at. But for some reason, he had said yes to the proposition. Why? Why did he agree to help create prehistoric based animals for another park? Thinking back on his previous experiments and specimens created, he was making improvements each time he created a new species of animal. Every time a 'glitch' or 'bug' was found in one of his creations, he would always pull his team together to figure out what to do to make the next animal better. As he recalled, he was on version 4.4? That was so long ago and technology had advanced so much.

Maybe this time, he could create the perfect specimen. As he had been told, another geneticist had found a way to viral out an affected chromosome responsible for making specimens created with that DNA sick. Wu planned on not only using those notes to assist in his latest work but planned to bring the troubled scientist in to work him, as well.

He remembered the man all too well and the whirlwind of trouble he had gotten himself into when sabotaging one of the first attempts to recreate a dinosaur. How the hell had that even happened? Wu shook his head to himself as he strode through the headquarters parking lot and to his vehicle. So much work lie before him. Whether for the good or the bad, Wu was sure something could be learned from it. Hell, maybe even a new species of dinosaur, too.

The man laughed to himself. What else was left to create that wasn't offered by prehistoric DNA extraction from mosquitoes? Wu slid into the driver's seat of his Lexus and started the engine, wearing a smile on his face. He had just been promoted. What wasn't to smile about?


	154. Final Call Put Into Plan

**154 - Final Call Put Into Plan**

Crying. Who was crying and why? Was it that brat kid, again? Muldoon woke in the middle of a February night, irritated at the unwanted disturbance. Damn kid. Wait, that wasn't a kid. That was Pet. She was crying and it sounded like from inside the bathroom. What had happened?

"Bloody hell" he grumbled and slid out of bed. His grumbling and Pet's crying woke up Terrence, as well. As for Derek, well, it would take a lot to wake him up. Muldoon lightly tapped his knuckles against the bathroom door. "Pet?"

The woman fell silent, sniffed back a sob and weakly called out, "Yeah?"

"Is it safe to come in?" He tried the handle, finding it unlocked.

"Sure. Why not?" Pet buried her sickly face in her hands, refusing to look at the man nervously poking his head into the bathroom.

It didn't take a genius to see the woman was sick again and from what the man could assume, was another nasty flare up. This hadn't happened in quite some time. "I would ask if you're alright, but obviously not." He knelt down to feel of her flustered, sweaty body and felt she was feverish. "Lovely."

He sat against the wall next to the hybrid and sighed. "How long ago did the attack hit?"

"Sometime when I was asleep." Pet wiped at her eyes. "I woke up feeling hot and like shit. I was going to come sit in the tub for a bit, but yeah..." she gestured to the toilet. The woman choked out another sob. "I'm tired of this, Rob. I'm tired of being sick all the time. Tired of not knowing if or when its going to flare up and how bad it'll be. What I'll be doing at the time when it decides to kick me in the ass."

Terrence, who had been struggling to wake up Derek upon hearing something was wrong, stood in the doorway of the bathroom. "That time again, huh?" He frowned.

Pet continued. "I wish it'd either kill me or -"

"Shut it!" Muldoon barked out. "I don't want to hear you talk like that."

The hybrid's glossy raptor eyes met her guardian and best friend's. "You don't understand how this shit fucks me up all the damn time! I can't be happy because as soon as I am, boom," she threw her hands in the air. "I'm sick again!" Pet buried her face in her hands again. "I just want this shit to go away." After a heavy exasperated breath, she got up to sit on the side of the tub and started the water. "I'm going to sit in the water for a bit."

Knowing it was her way of telling him to go away, he got the message and left. Terrence closed the door behind him as Derek, leaning against the kitchenette bar, questioned. "Now what?"

Terrence answered. "First, we tell Dr. Grant. He should know." And with that, he left.

Muldoon sat heavily down on the couch and rubbed his face with his hands. Derek sternly watched his uncle. "I think it's time to make the final call, Rob. Pet's not getting any better."

"As she wont" he sighed out. "Until she's cured. That is, if there's even a cure." The two men sat in silence for the time it took Terrence to arrive back with Grant.

The paleontologist entered the trailer, still looking as though half asleep. Dark circles ran under his eyes from all the nights of traveling on top of all the other sleepless nights due to stress keeping him awake. Now this. The man looked to the closed bathroom door and frowned.

Muldoon spoke. "I'm making the call." He looked over to Derek. "What are the chances of you being able to locate Jacobs?"

"Already beat to you to it. Last time I was in Cali for a couple well paying jobs from Mike, I did a little poking around to find him." He shifted his weight to his other foot in his leaning and continued. " I have a couple friends that I frequently work with in the San Francisco Police Department that I knew wouldn't mind lending a hand. I just went to them, gave them the info of the person and they worked their magic. This one chick, Madison, is like a virtual Sherlock Holmes when it comes to finding people online. Doesn't matter where in the world they are, if they can be traced, she'll find them...and she did." He nodded. "She's great."

Terrence arched a brow to urge the man to continue. "So? Where is he?"

"In San Diego."

Grant looked from Derek and over to the man seated on the couch. "What's the plan, then? Since we know where this guy is."

Muldoon answered. "Its not advisable to take Pet to San Diego. That's too close to InGen and as far as we know, they're still after her."

"The bunker" Derek cut in. "I've been thinking about it. Say Jacobs does agree to help Pet, she's going to have to be close by so he can effectively help her. Yeah, I agree...her being in San Diego is too chancy. So why not bring her to the bunker? That way she's closer to the doc for help, but not in InGen's back yard."

Terrence nodded. "Sounds good to me."

As much as Muldoon didn't want to admit it, his nephew was right. "Its a plan, then. As soon as Pet is well enough for travel, we take a little road trip."

The hybrid could be heard weakly calling from within the bathroom, "I'm not going back to that damned bunker!"

Muldoon roared back, "No one's asking you!"


	155. Back To The Bunker

**155 - Back to the Bunker**

'Now Entering California' read a road sign, looking as though it had seen better days. Derek took a deep swig of an energy drink still dripping condensation on the can and stiffened back a burp. All around him and asleep in their seats were the Jeep's passengers. His uncle was stretched out and asleep in the passenger seat as Terrence and Pet were balled up in the back seat. It was something he had noticed and not just during the 3 day trip, thus far, but in general. Anytime the hybrid was sharing the bed with anyone, she was always drawn to them. He assumed it because of her being partially cold blooded and the appeal of a heat source.

Everyone had taken turns driving since leaving the dig site, except for the hybrid. She was still partially sick, though on the improvement side of things. All that was left was nasal congestion, coughing, headaches and body aches.

The driver took another swig of his drink before setting it back down in the cup holder. Hopefully they'd be at the bunker by sunrise.

* * *

Pet rubbed her eyes at being woken up and looked around the Jeep cab, finding it morning. She was hoping to be at another truck stop because she was hungry and some chocolate donuts with apple juice sounded great. When she turned her head around to look outside her window, she grumbled and frowned. The bunker. The last place she wanted to be.

She rolled her head around on her shoulders, hoping to work out a crick that had the right side of her neck knotted up. Meanwhile, Terrence withdrew his arm from around the hybrid and tried to flex his fingers. His arm hurt and his hand was numb.

Pet got out of the Jeep and stretched as a series of pops came from her back. "Why couldn't we just stay in a motel or something? No need to drive continuously."

She got no answer. She, as well as the others, got their bags out of the back end and went to the bunker door that Derek was opening. The smell of stale air greeted them as a mouse ran past the door and down the hallway.

Derek snickered to himself. "There goes your breakfast, Pet."

The hybrid didn't say anything as she shoved past the man to go inside. "This time, I'm getting one of the bunks."

Terrence called out. "I get the shower, first!" As much as the others wanted to wash off, they waited. And smiled. After Terrence got out of the bathroom, he looked highly disgusted. "I feel dirtier after a shower than I did before!"

Derek devilishly smiled. "That's because its well water that hasn't been used in who knows how long. Sometimes the first at something isn't always the best." He got to his feet. "Thanks for taking one for the team, buddy!" With that, Derek grabbed his clean change of clothes and a towel and went for the bathroom.

Muldoon finished unpacking his duffle bag in his wall locker and sat his signature hat on top of it. "How are you feeling, Pet?"

"I hate you" she growled, rolling over where she laid on a top bunk to get comfortable.

* * *

Evening came and after a much needed long nap, everyone felt rested. Not to mention hungry. Bags of instant noodles stared back at Terrence. "We should've gotten some food before we came here."

"No worries" Derek replied. "There's a convenient store about 5 miles away. It doesn't have much, but it at least has a few simplicities like toilet paper, more noodles, a couple frozen dinners and maybe some milk and cereal. I'll go check it out here in a little bit.

But that wasn't happening. Derek and Terrence stared at the burned ruins of what used to be the convenient store. Nothing needed to be said as the latter looked to the younger man. Derek sighed and got back in the Jeep. "Looks like its off to the nearest town...20 miles away."

* * *

Two hours later, the Jeep returned and with a backseat full of microwavable foods and canned soups. Pet poked her nose into one of the bags, frowning. Her attention was taken off the bag, however, when Derek got a different bag out from the front seat. He waved it front of the hybrid, her jerking the bag away to look inside. A steak. She squealed in delight and went into the bunker, straight for the kitchen.

The microwave chimed and the over timer went off. Everyone sat at the table eating their choice in dinner. Pet swallowed a bite of her mostly raw steak to question Derek. "So when are you supposed to go get Jacobs?"

The man shrugged. "I'll probably head out tomorrow morning to get an early start. I expect the trip to be an all day and into the night ordeal, but that's mostly because of needing to wait till Jacobs gets off of work." He took a bite of his pizza and swallowed before resuming. "Once I hit Interstate 5, I'll be able to travel faster at least until I hit L.A."

For the rest of the evening and into the night, the three men continued to go over their plans while Pet slept. Once everything was good to go, Derek made sure his stash of Ripper energy drinks were cold because he was going to need them the next day.


	156. Jacobs's Visitor

**Since back on track and the timing of things is where I originally planned for the later content to take place, time to re-post some content some readers might remember. *cringes* Yeah, I goofed back then. Deeply sorry for that, again :( Not to worry, though, fellow readers. Jurassic Park 3 is right around the corner. Almost goofed up again by posting the first chapter of the JP 3 content until I remembered I had previous content to cover, first. This will lead into events to take place after JP 3, which in turn will help tie into later things involving Pet's fate.**

* * *

**156 - Jacobs's Visitor**

Damn these late work nights! Jacobs was exhausted after coming in to work early and leaving late. He had counted up the hours as they ticked by, him working almost 14 hours. But his day wasn't over after closing down his work station. He still had to fight the evening traffic to get back to his apartment, which usually took longer than he liked. The steady stop and go that last couple blocks always tested his patience. Its a wonder that his Chevy Malibu's horn still worked!

The scientist reached into the passenger's seat to fetch his brief case and slid out of the car. Today hadn't been too bad of a day, despite working so late. After working along side Dr. Wu for the while that he had, now he knew why the scientist was InGen's top scientist. Jacobs drove his apartment key into the door and gave the base of it a good kick to open it. He kept meaning to call maintenance about that as it always seemed to stick the worst in the colder months and even more after a good rain.

Muscle memory kicked in as he locked the door behind him and hung up his keys on a hook beside it. When he reached over to turn on a lamp, he found the light not working. "Damn" he mumbled to himself. "Bulb must've gone out."

"Nope" came a stranger's voice in the dark. "Its perfectly fine. Just give it a good twist, is all."

Jacobs jumping at being startled almost knocked the lamp over. Luckily, he was able to catch it in the dark and with shaking hand, sat it back in place. He fervently felt around beneath the shade for the bulb and did in fact, find it loose. Hastily screwing it back in, he flicked on the light to see the face of his apartment's trespasser lounged out and sitting in a recliner.

Derek smirked. "What's up, Doc?"

Jacobs stared in dismay at the younger man. "What the...How did you get in here?! Breaking and entering is a serious offense, Mr.!" The scientist rushed over to his home's phone and picked it up, dialing out 9-1 before realizing there was no dial tone.

"Not happening."

Jacobs slammed the phone back down on the receiver. "You little shit!"

Derek huffed a laugh. "I get that a lot..."

The scientist spun around to face the intruder, still lounged back and proudly smiling. "What do you want? Money? Plan on kidnapping me for ransom? I'll have your ass in court for this!"

"Oh really?" The younger man laughed a bit louder and got to his feet. "And what about your little tinkering with human DNA?"

"I'm a geneticist!"

"Oh I know." Derek began closing in on the shaken up man. "I know all too well. So does my uncle." The bounty hunter's smirk shifted to pure anger. "You might know him. Robert Muldoon? Does that name ring a bell?" The pounding of Jacobs's heart could almost be heard in the air filling the space between the two men. "What about the name Pet. Hmm? Remember her?" Derek grabbed the scientist by the collar of his crew neck shit and slammed him into the wall behind him.

The man was shaking violently in fear. "What do you want?" He cried out, sweat beads starting to form on his brow and temples.

"Pet's been sick for the past while and word has it you can find a cure."

Jacobs whimpered beneath the younger, but stronger man's grasp. He nodded his head. "Maybe...possibly..." Not good enough and Derek relayed as much by tightening his grip on the man's shirt and pushing him harder onto the wall. His glasses were now askew on his face. "Okay, okay I can!" The grip on his shirt loosened a bit as Jacobs adjusted his glasses. "I was able to viral out the illness caused by an affected chromosome inherited by an infected parent."

Derek's expression contorted into bafflement. "Hammond wasn't sick with this shit..."

"No" Jacobs choked out when swallowing his rising nerves. "But the raptor part of the DNA used to create I-10 HY was affected..."

"Pet, you asshole... her name is Pet!" Derek's grip on the man tightened again.

The scientist held up his hands to show he meant no harm. "I know, I'm sorry, my apologies... Pet." He frowned and appeared as though about to cry from being shaken up. "I'm just so used to addressing her by her filed name after working around Mr. Masrani for so long."

Chocolate brown eyes became burning coals. "What? So he knows about her?" Jacobs nodded his head again. "Did you tell him?" The man shook his head this time. "But you can cure her, right?"

Jacobs swallowed again, uncertain of the man's mental stability should he answer wrong. "By using the viral out technique, most likely. But I'll need a sample of her blood while the virus is active."

"Anything else?"

"Is...is she here? In San Diego?" There was a glint of excitement in his otherwise disheveled appearance.

"Fuck no! Why the hell would I bring her here? So you can go run off and rat her out to InGen so they can _try_ to hunt her down again? Nah ah. Not happening."

"Yet," Jacobs began calmly. "You're expecting me to cure her? How, if she's not even here?"

Derek squared his tempered gaze down on the man. "Pack your bags and whatever else you're going to need, Doc. You're going on a field trip."

"What?" The poor man almost jumped out of his skin upon hearing the other man's words. "Uh, b-but my work at the lab! Mr. Masrani is supposed to be in first thing tomorrow morning to check on the progress Dr. Wu and I have been doing on-!"

"I don't care" Derek interrupted.

"W-what should I tell him, then?"

"I'm sure you'll figure out something" the younger man maliciously sneered.

Jacobs clenched his jaw in frustration. "And what if I _do_ tell the police about this?"

"Then I tell the news media what you intentionally did all those years ago in Kenya. I mean, it had to be intentional, right? How else does a geneticist _not_ notice human DNA being tossed into the mix of things? Not to mention, John Hammond's DNA at that. I'm almost certain he just didn't hand you a sample of his blood. You _really_ had to work hard to fuck that up big time, buddy." Derek snorted a laugh to himself. "Tell me, how much shit do you think you can land yourself in once animal activists and human rights hears about your-"

"_Alright!_" Jacobs braced himself against his knees as a wave of dizziness spun him in circles. "I'll figure something out."


	157. Figuring It Out

**157 - Figuring It Out**

Five AM buzzed away on Jacobs's alarm clock, but the man was already awake. He hadn't slept all night and how could he? There was some complete stranger in his apartment and asleep on his couch! Wait...Thinking back, he mentioned his uncle being the all too remembered game warden from Hammond's zoo and lab in Kenya. This wasn't the same punk kid that came down to the zoo one summer, was it?

Jacobs shut off the alarm and wearily sat up, reaching over to a lamp on the night stand and clicking it on. When he put his glasses on, he realized he wasn't alone and yelped. Derek leaned against the dresser along the far wall, thumbs hooked around his belt loops. "Rise and shine, Buttercup."

Jacobs was furious. "Have you no sense of privacy?"

"Get dressed. The sooner you get your shit together, the sooner we can be out of here and on the road." He scowled at the scientist and left, Jacobs able to see the holstered pistol tucked in the back of the man's pants. This wasn't happening.

* * *

An hour later, the two men were parked before InGen's San Diego lab. Jacobs breathed to calm his nerves. "I could've driven myself."

"Yeah, and what, have you go doing who knows what?" Derek stared at the offended scientist. "I know better than that. Now get your ass in there, tell whatever bullshit story you need to...and make it believable...and be out here in 15 minutes."

Jacobs clutched his briefcase tightly to his chest. "I need more than 15 minutes. More like 30, so I can get...wait, what am I to do, exactly?" He watched the younger man narrow his eyes down. "What do you expect me to do? How far are we going? How long will I be gone?"

"Two to three days?...ish?"

The scientist blinked in disbelief. "Wha...I can't do any sufficient work in that amount of time! I need my lab, my equipment.. stuff I can't exactly pack in a suitcase and take with me. I need her _here!_"

"And I can't just shove her into my duffle bag and sneak her into your lab, either!" Both men sat there and stared at the other in question. Derek sighed and reached into his pocket to get his cell phone. No need to go to his contacts list. He had his uncle's satellite phone on speed dial. "Let's just see what your old buddy, Robert, has to say about this."

* * *

Pet picked at the macaroni and cheese still steaming and heaped in a pile on her on her plate. This was supposed to be breakfast? She looked up at Terrence sitting down at the table, holding the pot in one hand and a spoon in the other. "What happened to getting cereal?" The man wordlessly studied the hybrid while munching on a bite of the cheesy noodles. "You couldn't have gotten eggs? Bacon? Waffles? _Something_ more breakfast like?"

"What's wrong with mac and cheese?"

Pet blinked in disbelief. The familiar ringing of the satellite phone echoed down the hallway, the woman lightly snickering. "That would probably be Derek."

Distinct and profane grumbling at being woken up by the phone could be heard followed by a sharp, "Yeah what?"

Terrence and Pet looked to the other in question. A tangent laced with obscenities filled the bunker, the hybrid forcing back an eruption of laughter. Terrence stated under his breath, "He's pissed."

A minute later, the angered man wearing only a pair of sweat pants exploded from the bunk room with the phone still in his hand. He didn't bother looking at the woman when going straight for the coffee pot and speaking. "That was Derek. He's got Jacobs and will be here this evening."

"Is that what all that yelling was about?"

After pouring a cup of coffee, the older man took a hefty drink of it before responding. "I was more yelling at Jacobs just because why not?" Pet brightly smiled and started laughing.

* * *

"There" Derek began, hanging up his cell phone and shoving it back in his pants pocket. He gave a concrete gawk at the scientist next to him. "I'm sure I don't need to repeat what Uncle Dearest so wisely stated, do I?"

Jacobs didn't even blink as his wide eyes were magnified behind his glasses. "How could I miss it? You only _had him on loud speaker!_"

The bounty hunter giggled. "I know! It was epic wasn't it?" He leaned over the scientist and opened the Jeep's passenger side door. "Now the get out of the Jeep and get your shit."

Jacobs was about to do just that, though reluctantly, until a black Mercedes drove through the circle and around to the front entrance of the multi story InGen laboratory building. Both men watched as the car came to a halt and the driver get out to open the back passenger door. Out stepped Simon Masrani dressed down in a grey suit and light blue buttoned down shirt underneath an unbuttoned suit coat.

"Uh oh" the scientist blurted. "I'm late."

"Better get in there, then, and smile pretty for the big man."

Jacobs cut a glare down on the younger man from the corner of his eye and slid out of the car. He slammed the door behind him, drawing ire from the vehicle driver. The scientist did his best to force as normal composure of himself as possible and strode past the Mercedes, now driving off, and into the laboratory building. Standing at the front desk and chatting away about the morning news to the security detail was the one person Jacobs really wasn't wanting to see at that particular moment.

Simon became bigger smiles at the scientist's arrival. "Ah, Dr. I was just about to come see you."

Jacobs nervously smiled and accepted the man's outstretched hand. Now to come up with the biggest lie of story he could think of.


	158. A Little On Edge

**158 - A Little On Edge**

Forty minutes passed, Derek becoming further uneasy. So help him, if that piece of sh- Wait. There he was.

Jacobs was almost running out of the building, looking sickly pale. Derek wasn't sure which was more white: the man's face or his knuckles shining against a hand tightly clutching his briefcase. The scientist scurried over to the Jeep and tried the passenger door handle only to find it locked. His glossy eyes set in a lightly sweating face looked dreadfully to the vehicle driver.

"What the... _Let me in, damn it!"_ Jacobs banged on the glass. Brown, unblinking eyes never left the scientist as their owner reached over to unlock the door. "What was that for?"

"I said be back in 15 minutes. You insisted on 30. Fine." Derek rolled his left wrist ever so slightly to gaze down at the time ticking by on the face of his wrist watch. "That was forty minutes ago." He slimmed his dark eyes down back on the trembling scientist.

"I had a bit of a difficult time breaking away from Mr. Masrani and Dr. Wu." Jacobs re-wrapped his arms around his brief case.

"And?"

"I was able to get a couple syringes, but unfortunately wasn't able to sneak out anything else. They would've been too big to conceal and I was afraid of looking suspicious." The Dr. hastily buckled himself up.

Just as Derek cranked up the Jeep, he just so happened to look up at the building's double glass doors to see the Masrani step out. "Get down" the younger man stated as he shoved the Dr.'s head into the dashboard.

In the suited down CEO's waiting for the Mercedes to pull around and pick him up, he glanced upwards to see the driver of a red Jeep stare back at him some roughly 30 yards away. Both people stared at the other for a moment. For Simon, he wasn't aware of who it was he was staring at. For Derek, he squared his eyes down on the possible adversary and scowled. He then tossed the vehicle in reverse and left. Luckily for Jacobs, he wasn't spotted thanks to the driver's careful angling of steering.

Slowly, since adhering to the posted speed limit signs, the Jeep crept through the parking lot and down the long drive leading both into and out of the company property. Jacobs kept trying to look up, but Derek would shove his head back down. "Stay down. He's right behind us." The driver rolled his focus off the road in front of him and to the black Mercedes in the rear view mirror.

For several minutes, both Jeep occupants were convinced the Mercedes was following them as they both turned down the same roads and onto the interstate. Some miles later and after taking multiple exits, the Mercedes was lost amongst the growing congestion of vehicles and commercial trucks. Come to find out, it was merely coincidence. The Jeep occupants only feared they were being followed given the level of paranoia both men harbored. From here, it was onwards to the bunker.

* * *

"There needs to be a TV in here" Pet exclaimed. Her bored stare was aimed at the turned off surveillance screens seated on the fold out table located in the joined kitchenette and break room area. "There's nothing to do."

Terrence shrugged and looked up from his reading a book. "Sure there is. You can read, write, draw...or sleep most of the day away like Robert."

"Pfft. That's because he drank himself there." Pet grabbed for the man's left arm to look at this digital sports watch. "Its almost 6 in the evening. When's dip shit supposed to get back?"

"Hell if I know" Terrence answered and returned to his reading.

The hybrid looked to the satellite phone laying on the round, fold out kitchen table. "Think I'll give him a call." She reached over to pick it up and began dialing Derek's cell phone. She drummed a dulled down, clawed hand on the table top until an answer. "There you are. How far out are you?" Terrence looked up from his book to study the young woman. "Less than an hour out? Are you at least close enough to some place to pick up something for dinner? I've had about as much hot dogs as I'm can tolerate." Pet lounged back and propped her feet on the table. "You know what I usually get from there. And get something for everybody else, too. Mhm..." She nodded. "Thanks, _dear_," she snorted out and hung up. "Oh yeah. Double stacker with extra bacon is on its way."

Terrence grimaced. "Cold fast food just doesn't taste right."

"Fine. I'll eat yours, then."

Muldoon lazily trudged into the kitchen and gawked at the hybrid with a deadpan expression. "What have I told you about putting your feet on the table?" Pet wiggled her toes and smiled. "Off the table, _now_."

The hybrid sighed. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." She watched her best friend and guardian rummage around in one of the cabinets above the sink for a bottle of aspirin. "As I recall, last time we were here, your drinking was an issue."

The man grumbled something under his breath and went to the fridge for a bottle water. Like hell he was going to drink the well water from tap. He joined the others at the table and popped open the aspirin bottle for 3 pills. "Anyone heard from the little shit?"

Pet nodded. "I just got off the phone with him, actually. He's roughly less than hour out and bringing dinner with him."

Muldoon tossed the pills into this mouth and chased them down with a hefty swig of water. "I take it Jacobs is with him?"

The hybrid shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't ask. I'm guessing so, seeing how he's heading back."

The scarred man sat his water bottle on the table, got up and disappeared around the corner and down the hallway. A lingering smell of alcohol that had followed him inside the room followed him outside of it.

Forty-five minutes and a shower later, Muldoon was back at the round table with his favored 30-6 at his side. Terrence's eyes peered over the top of his book to look at the gun as a look of dread passed over his features. "And here I was thinking the typical shit end treatment was getting shot in the ass with a tranquilizer."

Pet snickered, the older man responding. "Just trying to show I mean business should he try anything stupid."


	159. A Cold Welcome

**159 - A Cold Welcome**

Headlights of the Jeep pierced the darkness of the setting of night as Derek pulled up to the bunker. He honked the horn and put the vehicle in park, turning it off. He shifted his attention to the Jacobs, sitting straight up with his brief case still at this chest and a black sack over his head. In his lap was a cardboard drink holder full of large sized sodas. In the floorboard were several yellow and white paper bags emanating the delicious smells of burgers and fries.

The Dr. questioned from beneath the cover. "I guess we're here, now?" Jacobs reached up to take the head cover off, but the younger man stopped him. "Guess not."

Terrence was seen first, coming out of the bunker. He almost busted out in laughter at the scene of the scientist appearing a hostage for a negotiation. The man, however, composed himself and went to the Jeep, opening the passenger door. "Hell yeah" he began, grabbing the drinks.

Jacobs flinched in response to the door opening and again to the drinks being lifted off his lap. Derek grabbed the food bags and slid out of the driver's seat. For several minutes, Jacobs was by himself in the Jeep. He was about to lift up the head cover to see where he was, but was stopped by someone smacking his hand down.

Out of the Jeep he was basically drug and guided blindly into a well lit area full of people conversing. Everything went silent, however, at Jacobs's. The Dr.'s knees could be seen shaking through his smoky grey slacks. Even his hands were shaking.

Pet's blue green eyes shifted to a raptor's when staring the man down. He reeked of fear and she could hear his heart fervently beating within his chest. Memories of bad experiences with this man from approximately 11 years ago resurfaced and with it, a bad taste in her mouth. She hissed a snort like bark.

Jacobs yelped and leapt back a few inches in reaction to. Derek guided the scientist to the table and pushed him down to sit. Brief case met table in a loud thud, causing Terrence's drink to almost fall over had he not caught it in time. The black head cover was ripped off the man to reveal him the people seated around the table.

All gazes appeared the same; concrete and silent in warning. The first person he locked gazes with was Pet, her animalistic stare blood freezing and unnerving. He didn't recall her looking that way the last time he'd seen her. But then again, she was also in her mid teens and so much was different then. Jacobs then looked directly to his left to see the acidic blue eyed gaze of Muldoon. The scars that ran down his face gave the man a more than intimidating appearance and Jacobs recoiled a bit.

He then shifted his eyes over to yet another face at the table, Terrence. "I remember you" Jacobs stated. "I never would've thought you'd agree to something like this. All this time I thought you hated her." He motioned to the unblinking hybrid seated across the table from him.

Terrence swallowed a bit of his burger and took a deep drink of his soda before answering. "I still do." He reached for a napkin and wiped off his face. "She never shuts up," Pet shook her head. "She always uses all the hot water." Pet nodded her head. "And she has a bad habit of drinking almost all the milk and putting the carton back in the fridge when there's only less than a sip left." The hybrid shrugged. "That and she has a thing for shooting people in the ass with tranquilizers." Pet wickedly smiled. Jacobs's eyes quickly darted in their sockets to Muldoon, still sitting quietly; thinking. "Yeah, best not to piss him off. But I think you already knew that."

Derek was last to take his seat, after getting his own food from the paper bag on the cabinet. He sat down and began shoving bite after bite of burger into his mouth. Cold or not, he was hungry after smelling the food since leaving town. He tossed a wrapped burger at the scientist. "Eat."

It took Jacobs a few minutes of calming his nerves before finally breaking down and giving in to his own growing hunger. Afterwards, he was shown where he was going to sleep. He looked at the dust layered bunks against the fall wall of the living area and sighed. His allergies were going to hate him in the morning. It was because of his allergies that he quickly left Kenya shortly after Pet's transferring.

Jacobs cautiously approached the unused bunks and laid his briefcase down on the bottom one, joining it himself a moment later. He sat there, studying the room. One of the grey, metal wall lockers against the opposite wall had a dent in it, a tan hat sitting on top of it. Looks like someone got angry one day. In thought of, he casually tossed a glance to the all too well known ex game warden. Had he even blinked at all? Every since arriving to the...wherever the hell he was...Jacobs didn't think he'd seen the far too serious man blink, once.

Jacobs forced his eyes off the piercing ones of the ex game warden and over to the hybrid as she strode into the room. That was when he saw it. "Is that... a ring?" A disbelieving smile teased one of the corners of his lips. "You're engaged?" He laughed to himself. "To who?"

Terrence, who was following behind her, coldly questioned, "What's it matter to you?"

Jacobs bit his lips together and nervously smiled. "I was just surprised by it, is all." He laughed again. "I never would've imagined Pet to be the settling down type."

Derek, who had been stretched out on his bunk above Muldoon's the whole time, spoke up. "And you're here to make sure that actually happens." Chocolate brown eyes met Jacobs's. "You said you could help her with some viral out method or whatever."

The scientist nodded. "And I believe I can, but I also stated needing a blood sample when the virus was active to test the method on." He examined the young woman. "When was the last attack?"

"Last week" Pet answered. "Technically I'm still sick seeing how I'm having symptoms."

Jacobs frowned. "It might be enough for what I need, but I'd prefer a sample when the illness was at its peak in intensity."

Derek continued. "The timing of this shit isn't like clock work, anymore, Doc. Used to be we'd know when it was about to flare up and could prepare for it. Now, it happens anywhere from 2 months to 3 and a half months time frame."

"How are we from San Diego?" There was no answer. "Can't be that far, really. When the sickness spikes up, again, I can come back and get the sample."

"Easier said than done." The younger of the present men sat up so his feet were now dangling over the side railing of the bunk bed. "Its still a 3 day drive from home to here."

"Home?" Jacobs glanced around at the many faces focused on him. "Where is home, exactly?"

Derek cracked a smile. "Home is where a man hangs his hat." He winked at Pet. "See what I did there?"

A smile upturned the woman's fluster reddened cheeks. Even Muldoon subtly smiled at the sparkle filling the woman's once empty gaze. Jacobs had seen it for a brief flicker in time before it disappeared beneath the scarred man's venomous gaze. Derek slid off the bunk and went over to the light switch.

"Alright, kids," he stated. He flicked off the bunkroom light. "Bedtime. Get some sleep. That mostly goes for you, Doc. So go to bed."

Pet sarcastically blurted, "Yes, Daddy."

Derek giggled. "You called me Daddy. I may or may not tell someone about this later." Pet sighed.


	160. Getting To Work

**160 - Getting To Work**

Pet clenched her jaw and squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't watch the needle drawing closer to the surfaced vein at the inside of her right elbow. A moment later, a sharp pinch of the needle stabbing into her arm brought forth a yelped bark from the hybrid.

Derek shook his head, Terrence commenting. "After all these years, you're still a pansy over needles. You've been trampled by animals, bitten by feral cats, fought who knows how many dinosaurs and have several scars to show for. Yet, you _still_ can't take a needle."

Jacobs collected 3 vials of blood before extracting the needle. He placed a cotton ball on the bleeding puncture mark, Pet already knowing to hold it in place until the bleeding stopped. The scientist appropriately labeled the vials with date and time of collection.

He lightly laughed. "She's always been this way, even when a kid. Vaccination days were the worst. Even with cartoons or any other pretty colors on in the vet analysis area she still freaked out."

After the vials were labeled, Muldoon sat a thermos down on the table top half full of ice. "You said you needed something to transport the samples in. Well, there you go. The ice should keep for a majority of the way, if not all the way." Jacobs took the vials and positioned them in the ice accordingly.

* * *

All eyes watched the red Jeep disappear down the dirt road until it was obscured by trees. In the front passenger seat, Jacobs sighed beneath his having to wear the black head cover again. Derek cracked a mischievous, but amused smile and turned on the stereo. The scientist groaned loudly. Not this song again! The driver started drumming on the steering wheel in tempo to the rhythm. This was going to be a long, long ride back to San Diego.

* * *

Nine-o-clock at night and finally back in San Diego. Derek shook the sleeping, and snoring, scientist awake. "Hey Doc, we're back." The head cover was slipped off the man's head. "Get your ass to work in finding a cure."

Jacobs readjusted his glasses on his face from their crooked position and groggily focused on the surroundings. They were definitely back, alright...at the lab. The passenger looked angrily at the driver. "You couldn't take me home, first?"

"Unless you have a lab somewhere in your apartment, which last I looked you didn't, then you need to be here." Derek reached over and opened the passenger side door.

"Its night time! I need rest!"

The younger man scoffed. "You rested for the past hour and a half. Besides, I still have a hell of a drive back to the others."

Frowning in disapproval, the geneticist collected his briefcase from the floorboard of the front seat and the thermos from the cup holder. Grumbling, he got out of the Jeep. "I expect you'll be waiting for me to finish doing a quick blood analysis?"

"As if."

"How am I supposed to get back home, then?"

Derek shrugged. "Call a taxi." He smiled, waved, and put the Jeep into reverse, backing up. "I'll call you in a couple days to check on your progress. Until then, tah tah!" With that, he threw the Jeep into first gear and left.

Jacobs kicked at the asphalt of the parking lot, cursing under his breath. Having no other choice, he went inside the building via an employees side door located more towards the back of the complex. He fumbled about in his shirt pocket. No ID. Then he went through his pants pockets. No ID. He knelt down and rested his briefcase on his knee and opened it to check inside. The man ran along the inside of the lid's pocket. Bingo. He extracted it and stood up, sliding it through the card access reader.

His coming into the building got the attention of the facility's graveyard shift security guard. The security officer, a tall black man, came into view from around a corner, a flashlight in one hand and his other hand on his pistol holster at his side. "Oh its just you Dr. Jacobs." The man relaxed a bit and smiled. "How's your aunt doing?"

Jacobs froze. "Pardon?"

"Rumor has it you had to take an emergency leave of absence because your aunt was in bad health." He raised a brow in question to the man when watching his confused expression become further so.

"Oh, oh right!" Jacobs nervously laughed. "She's well, now. Doing fine."

"Good to hear." The security guard pointed to the thermos with the beam of his flashlight. "Deciding to work late?"

"Yeah, I've...uh... been gone and wanting to catch up on whatever I've possibly fell behind on." The lightly sweating scientist waved the thermos in the air. "Brought some coffee to help me."

"I hear ya." The security guard stood side. "Good luck, then."

Jacobs nodded in appreciation and quietly went to his office and corresponding lab to get what work done that he could.

* * *

**And now, to start working on the chapters leading up to Jurassic Park 3.**


	161. Professional Work Environment

**161 - Professional Work Environment**

Grant ran his black comb under the bathroom water to dampen it and then through his hair to style it. He turned his head from side to side in the bathroom mirror to analyze how he looked from all angles. Seemed like no matter what he did, he couldn't hide the stubborn part of his hair refusing to lay down. That's what he got for sleeping on it wet.

Pet stood shy of the opened bathroom door, arms crossed over her chest and an amused smile pulling at her lips. She shook her head. "I don't see why you're so concerned about how your hair, anyway. You're going to wear your hat and when its not on, its going to be a mess because you're constantly going to be messing with it."

The man tossed the comb to the side of the sink and sighed in frustration. "I at least want to _try_ and look decent for the new college students coming to the site, today."

"I don't think they're going to care. Its going to be one of 3 things if not all the above. One, the fan girls are going to be swooning regardless of how you're dressed and or look. Two, the guys that come to the site are going to be all about the fossil and no offense, not so much about you. And three," Pet neared the man and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck to gaze lovingly into his eyes. "You're Dr. Alan Grant, world renowned paleontologist. Any fan girl not falling over themselves or anyone with itchy fingers trying to work on the fossil will no doubt be all eyes and ears to what you have to say."

"Or there's option four." His smiling in scheming brought a curious brow from the woman. "Let Billy deal with the new kids and I hide in the office." Pet laughed and met the man in a kiss. "Then there's always saying to hell with it and hiding in here..."

There was a glint in his eye that drew a mutual smile from the hybrid. "I like where this is going" and gave him another kiss.

Billy called behind them from inside the kitchen area. "Like hell you guys are pulling the 'need to review the reports' excuse while I babysit the visiting kids." Grant lightly laughed at his protégé and went into the kitchen to make him a breakfast plate.

* * *

Two hours later, a blue bus with the Montana University logo displayed across both sides and back, pulled up to the dig site. Billy stood with off to the side and waited for all the students to unload. He had been duped, again for another one of Grant's excuses. The radar imaging computer was goofing up and he needed to be there to make sure its repairing wouldn't affect its relaying data. As if. Everyone knew how much Grant hated computers and did his best to avoid them. Now as far as where Pet was, was a different story. He knew she wasn't off hiding, too, but was actually working somewhere. Or so he thought. In his visually searching the excavation, he was able to see Terrence and Derek sitting by Quarantine and smiling, waving at him. Figures.

Derek laughed to the man seated next to him. "Bets...Boy Scout makes an idiot of himself, again, just like he did a couple semesters ago."

"Nah" Terrence stated. "I think he's going to do just fine. He's getting better at this sort of thing. The whole dig site touring and all." Both men looked to each other for a minute. "You're on." They shook hands.

Billy couldn't hear what was being said but knew it couldn't be in his favor. Chances are, the little shit was up to his betting and most likely, against him in some way. The junior scientist looked back over to the bus as the last of the students got off. He expected the nerdy student of the class to get off last, just as it usually had been in the past, which he couldn't say anything bad about. He used to be that kid. Stayed made fun of for being the brainiac of the class until he got the last laugh when asked to work at the site full time by Dr. Grant himself. Now, he was the envy of past class mates as some struggled to find work.

Much to his expectations to the last bus student, he found himself wordlessly surprised. Her hazel eyes, curtained by long, brunette curly hair cascading past her shoulders, locked onto his. He subconsciously smiled to the beautiful young woman appearing roughly in her mid twenties.

Even Derek's eyes widened at seeing the student. "Dude, she's hot." He sat down his sports bottle to stand up, but Terrence grabbed his arm to stop him. "What-"

"Give the boy scout a chance."

"But she's-"

A heavy hand rested on his other shoulder causing Derek to look up and see it was his uncle. Muldoon calmly stated, "You're keeping your ass right here." Derek grumbled in reluctance and did as told.

Billy smiled to the collection of 23 students. "Good morning, everyone," Nervous waves and quiet greetings replied to the man. "Welcome to the Ft. Peck Lake excavation site." Now would be a good time for the head man himself to come to his aide and take over. Unfortunately, he knew that wasn't going to happen. At least Veronica could make an appearance.

Her giving explanations and tours of the site was always a fun event. Anytime questions were asked regarding Grant and Jurassic Park, she'd shoot them down in the most polite but earnest way possible. And it was always in a way that made the student or students as awkward as possible. She had a knack for making hot headed students feel small. Billy would love for that to happen sooner rather than later as in, at that particular moment for he could tell this was going to be one of those collection of students.

A male student at the front of the group, looking more like a boy genius who should be studying rocket science rather than paleontology, questioned. "Will we be getting a chance to speak with Dr. Grant, himself? I have a few questions I've been collecting on asking him." Him pulling out a small spiral notebook from a shoulder bag and flipping it open to a page didn't look much like a few questions written down. More like a novel.

"Oh boy" Billy sighed under his breath.

* * *

Grant was still no where to be found and thankfully, Terrence came to Billy's aide in reverting questions about the island. After a tour and thorough explanation of the many tents and excavation work stations, the students were allowed to go their own ways to take a look around. _But_, they couldn't touch anything or try to involve them selves in any of the work. The trip was for purely for observation and educational purposes. Hands on work would come later on in the year, should students choose to participate at the dig site.

Billy stood, watching the attractive, brunette woman weave through equipment scattered about the site and took it upon himself to accompany her. She saw him and lit up with smiles. "Hey. Nice place you guys have here. I was expecting something a bit different, but this..." she gestured around her. "Is truly amazing. Hopefully I can get approved to help out around here once semester is over."

"That'd be cool" he boyishly said. He could feel the palms of his hands start to sweat in nervousness and he drove them into his pants pockets. "I think you'll like it here. We like to keep a professional work environment. Dr. Grant makes sure to that." The woman giggled. "What was your name again? I'm sorry, I'm completely forgot a lot of the other students' names when boy genius started going on about his questions."

The woman shrugged. "No worries and I completely understand. He's like that in class, too. Sometimes I feel sorry for the professor." She smiled warmly to the man. "I'm Megan. Megan Somners."

"Nice to meet you." He had already introduced himself to the visitors shortly after their arriving, so no need to do it again. "My apologies for Dr. Grant not being able to meet you all. He's been extremely busy as of late, so I've been taking over things for him."

"Ah."

"When the Dr. isn't around, things fall on me. When I'm not here, her over there," he pointed to Pet finally making an appearance as she and Terrence carried a heavy appearing box to the office trailer. "Is in charge. That's Veronica."

Derek could be seen approaching the hybrid. "Hey Pet..." Seeing how she was busy and unable to immediately act, he smacked her sharply on her backside. "Good work."

Pet snorted. "You little shit!" The man took off running.

As soon as the box was sat down, the hybrid took off after him now half way across the dig site. Into Quarantine he went. He tried to lock the door behind him, but wasn't fast enough.

Billy grimaced and tried to remain composed for professionalism's sake and continued. "Say neither of us three are immediately available then that tall, intimidating guy standing by that trailer," he pointed to Muldoon who was going into the trailer, "Has been known to step up and take control of things." Crashing around and something glass breaking sounded from within the trailer. "Anyone hanging around Ol Quarantine has a pretty good handle on things around here and are really good about helping out."

Megan looked to the scientist curiously. "Ol Quarantine?"

"Its a name we gave the trailer back when it stored who knows what. It always smelled of gasoline and other stuff."

Derek charged out of the trailer, almost knocking the front door off its hinges in the process. Behind him was the hybrid, her jumping and tackling him to the ground. "I'm going to kick your ass" she could be heard growling.

Megan stiffened back a giggle as Billy timidly scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah..." Good thing Grant wasn't around to see the floor show.

Derek laughed out, "Yes, baby, harder!" He curled up into the fetal position while Pet continuously hit him in the sides, back and upside the head. "You know I like it rough!"

Some professional work environment.


	162. A Unique Little Family

**162 - A Unique Little Family**

Cool temperatures surrendered to warmer ones now that mid June was upon them. Six of the 23 students that had visited the dig site earlier in the year had been approved to work at the excavation outside of class. It took some convincing on Billy's part before Grant said yes to the pretty brunette named Megan.

In exchange for agreeing, Billy would have to accept the responsibilities of showing visiting students around the dig site from now on. Wincing at the proposal, the protégé accepted. The day Megan arrived back to the site had Billy in a knot of excitement and nerves. Derek teased him whenever possible whereas Pet would try to offer assistance.

"Don't start trying to show off your knowledge of things just yet" Pet would explain. "Sort of comes off all 'hey look how smart I am' and it can sort of come off the wrong way." Billy stared at her blankly, her shrugging.

Days turned to weeks, Pet ever so slightly coming to familiarize herself with the rather friendly young woman. The hybrid had the student with her as she explained the plastering process, but Megan's attention was distracted elsewhere. Pet's eyes darted between the woman and Billy busy at the dig site.

Pet sighed. Both people were obviously interested in the other, yet neither of them had made the first move. They exchanged words here and there, but never anything note worthy. The hybrid cleared her throat, snapping Megan back into reality. "If you're wanting an ice breaker with that guy, ask him to help you or have him explain something work stuffy like. He likes to show off his knowledge."

Derek, who's forearms and hands were caked in plaster, leaned in closer to Pet. "Can I show off my knowledge to you, Pet?"

The hybrid flicked a small amount of plaster at the man's face. "How about you get back to work?"

Grant stepped into the tent to check on the progress of things and took a stand next to the hybrid. "Got a call. Looks like I have a seminar scheduled for next week."

Pet looked to the man. "How long will you be gone?"

"Two, maybe three days, at most."

Derek scooped another handful of plaster from a nearby bowl and began smearing it on a fist sized, rock looking fossil. "Great. That means Boy Scout will be in charge."

Megan looked to the working young man and then to Pet. "Boy Scout?"

The hybrid nodded. "Billy. See, this little shit, here" she gripped Derek on the shoulder and dug down her dulled claws. "Has a tendency of giving nick names to people." The man flinched beneath her grip, laughing and squirming at the same time. "Its a fault of his."

He finally managed to wiggle out of the woman's grasp, answering. "You call it fault, I call it attribute. There's Boy Scout, Mr. Personality," he pointed with his eyes at Terrence working across the table from him. "And Ol Fossil..." He motioned to an annoyed Grant with his head.

Pet concluded. "And he's known as the Little Shit." She patted Derek on the head.

"I'm not really that little" he teased, winking at Megan. Pet hit the man upside the back of his head, causing a handful of plaster to hit the ground. "What? Well, I'm not! Little is a baby. I'm a grown adult."

"That's debatable" Grant cut in. The scientist looked back to the hybrid. "Can we talk about this some where _not_ around distractions?"

Derek giggled. "I know what that means." It was Grant's turn to hit the smart mouth bounty hunter in the head this time. He laughed while watching both people leave the tent.

Megan crossed her arms over her chest in confusion and looked to Derek. "Dare I ask what that was all about?"

As though nothing had happened, the young man was back to working. "They're engaged."

"Then why do you keep hitting on her all the time?"

Terrence answered. "Because he can't help himself."

Derek nodded. "That and because, well...its Pet! Enough said."

Megan was more confused, but about something else. "Why do you call her Pet? Its that a nick name or something?"

"More like a family name." Once the fossil was completely plastered, he sat it off to the side. "We're all sort of like a unique little family. Pet, or Veronica, is more like a tomboy sister. He," again pointed to Terrence, "Is like the retarded cousin that we're forced to babysit because he can't be left alone by himself. He tends to mistake Ritalin for Sweet Tarts." Terrence glared at the younger man while a volunteer worker snickered from the corner they worked in. "Uncle Rob is more or less the father figure you don't want to piss off. At all. Boy Scout is the stray dog that found our door step one day and hasn't left, yet, since Pet started feeding him." Megan cocked her head at the comment. "They used to see each other. But don't worry. All that's in the past now." Derek got up and went to the bucket now full of white murky water and began rinsing off his hands.

"What about Dr. Grant?"

"The poor sap you can't help but feel sorry for, sometimes." Derek could see the look of utter bafflement only enhance on the woman. "Its better not to ask."

The woman's hazel eyes went to where Grant and the other woman were talking, the woman looking sad in the eyes.


	163. The Rapid Proto-typer

**163 - The Rapid Proto-typer**

Pet couldn't believe she had been at the dig site for 4 years, now. The anniversary of her arrival to the site back in '97 was circled on the calendar. And to think, this time four years ago she had been forced to live in a shit hole bunker somewhere in the mountains of California. She cringed at the memory of recently being at the bunker just earlier that year. So glad those days were over.

Pet sighed and stepped out of her bedroom and into the warm air of Quarantine. The window unit that usually stayed in the bunk room went out, leaving the trailer a stifling mess now being early summer.

Derek was stretched out on the couch wearing only a pair of black jeans as he fanned himself. "Is this what a chicken feels like when being cooked in the oven?"

The hybrid scoffed at him. "Pansy. How did you even survive being on the island, then? Its not only hot, there, but humid too."

"I wasn't really thinking about the heat, then." He sat up, disliking how sticky he felt all over and even after a shower.

"Well get dressed, shit wad. We have work to do and a lot of it. Alan's gone off on another one of his presentations and since Billy is out finding that delivery truck with that new piece of equipment, the excavation responsibilities fall on me." The hybrid poked her head into the fridge to find the last of the water had been drank. "Damn." She reached for the last juice box, instead. She wasn't too partial to grape, but she was thirsty and it was better than a soda.

Derek sat up. "When's Dr Incredible supposed to be back, anyway? I thought he said 2 to 3 days at most."

Pet shrugged behind a swig on the juice box straw. Once the drink was gone, she tossed the empty box into the trash. "Sometime this afternoon. I think he said around 3, maybe closer to 4."

The bounty hunter checked his wrist watch. "It's only 8:20 in the morning..."

"Mhm." Pet slid on her socks and shoved her feet into her boots by the front door. Outside, repetitive blaring of the Jeep's horn could be heard. "Sounds like Terrence and Billy just got back."

"Woo hoo." Derek sarcastically stated, twirling a finger in the air.

The hybrid stepped out of the trailer and made her way through the excavation to where the office trailer sat. Pulling up behind the trailer was a medium sized moving truck. Billy scampered up to join the woman, studying the truck with a cocked head. "You do realize Alan is going to be pissed when he learns you blew _that much money_ on that thing, right?"

The junior scientist shrugged. "Its easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission"

"Oh boy" the hybrid breathed out. "I'm so going to be fired from babysitting the dig site when he gets back..."

"Eh." The two people approached the back of the truck being opened up, revealing the item in debate. "I think he'll overlook all this should everything work out."

"Key word, _should_..."

Terrence joined the forming group as they and the college students accompanying the moving truck unloaded the equipment. Derek joined the group just in time to help lower the heavy, table like equipment to the ground.

He stared at it in question. "And that thing is _what_ exactly?"

"A rapid proto typer" Billy beamed.

"Looks more like 'you're fired' to me." Derek as well as Terrence, Billy and the college students hoisted the equipment and carried it to its temporary home. Pet ran ahead, making sure the way was clear and the tent ready.

A little over an hour later, the proto-typer was in place as the last of the cords running between it and its joining computer were connected. "Alright" Pet stated, looking to a student just as eager to get started as Billy. "Start her up. Let's see if its worth it." Her blue green eyes settled on the scientist next to her. "And just for the record, should Alan ask... I never said yes to this."

"Fine" Billy laughed. "I'll take all the credit, then, when the raptor resonating chamber is completed." He planted his hands on his hips and looked confusingly to the equipment. He lifted the lid and peered inside. "Okay, so how does this thing work, again?"

"Leave that to me" Pet stated. "You go...do some work, or whatever." She shot a sideways glance at the dig site to see Megan laying on the ground and working. Or, trying to work anyway. It was hard to tell, seeing how the student always seemed to be so confused and asking questions. Pet nudged Billy in the side. "Why don't you go talk to Megan? She looks all alone and I'm sure wouldn't mind some company." Maybe the two being alone would spark conversation. That is, if Megan took Pet's advice on hinting for help and explanations from the aspiring scientist.

Billy shrugged. "I suppose."

His attention was taken off the woman, looking comfortable and lovely as ever, and smiled to himself. His attention was inadvertently ripped off her, however, when seeing an unfamiliar man come into view not too far away. The stranger was tall and slim with a head full of strawberry blonde hair and wore a dumb look on his face. Pet frowned at the stranger in uncertainty. Perhaps it was his horrible sense of style for he wore a tan suit coat, navy blue polo shirt and blue jeans. Or maybe it was his obnoxious mustache or the fact he was trying too hard at something.

Pet questioned. "Who the hell is that?"

"No idea, but only one way to find out." Both Billy and the hybrid approached the man, who looked to them a bit nervously, but smiled anyway.


	164. Paul Kirby

**164 - Paul Kirby**

Pet snorted and decided to take a break from cleaning a tiny fossil to watch the anxiously pacing man. He'd been hanging around the dig site for the past few hours, poking around curiously. Billy had told him several times to stop. Terrence told him several times to stop. It finally took Muldoon jumping down his ass to make him stay to himself. Now, all he'd done for the past while was pace in a circle and mumble to himself.

Seated in a patio chair not far from where the hybrid sat was Derek dressed in a dark teal shirt and black jeans. "I know that sound," when referring to her snorting. His chocolate eyes drifted up to study her for a moment. "What is it, now?"

"Same thing it has been for the past while. That guy...I don't like him."

Derek leaned over the right arm rest of his chair and used his pocket knife to make another tally amongst 7 others in the dirt. "Yep. You've stated that. Eight times, now, to be exact and all within the past 20 minutes." They locked gazes. "But then again who's counting?" 

The woman flared her nostrils in another snort like bark and returned to working. It didn't take long for her to stop in working yet again to intently stalk the man with her sharp eyes. "I wonder when Alan is going to get back. It's getting close to 4."

"Well," Derek began setting the fossil he had been working on in a heavy box situated between him and Pet. "It depends on how long his presentation lasted, really on top of traffic coming back here." Pet sighed and blew the loosened bits of dirt off her work and examined it. "Boy Scout seems to be doing alright in making the moves on that brunette at the dig." Derek pointed to the two a distance away with the tip of his knife. "Think he'll actually strike it right this time?"

The hybrid shrugged. "I sure hope so. All they do is shoot googly eyes at each other..."

Whatever Billy had said to the woman made her laugh. Their moment was broken, however, by the clunking of a familiar brown F-350 double cab pick up pulling up to the dig site. Derek smiled. "There he is. Well, I'm all done with my stuff." He began loading up his lap full of tools back into the box and reached over to get the ones from the hybrid. Afterwards, he hoisted the box onto his left shoulder stating, "I'm going to take these to the processing tent" and strode away.

Pet watched the newly returned senior scientist walk around the truck and call for Billy. Like an obedient dog, the protégé ran to greet his boss. The younger man grabbed his mentor's bag from the backseat of the truck and lead the man to a large, tan tent. The hybrid sat down her work to meet the two at the tent. She was eager to see Grant's reaction at Billy's latest endeavor.

Pet poked her head into the tent and questioned the computer operator. "Status?"

"Almost done" the man answered in all smiles.

"Excellent." She turned just in time to come face to face with the Dr. "Welcome back."

The two met in a hug, Grant giving her a small kiss on the cheek. "Everything been good since I've been gone?"

Pet nodded her head and followed the two men into tent. "Couldn't be better, unless you count the rain."

Billy gestured to a large, white machine busy creating something Grant couldn't immediately identify. "This is what you spent some of the site's funding money on? What is it?"

The younger man smiled in pride and began explaining the best he could in a way he was sure his boss would understand. "Its a rapid prototyper. I enter in the scanned data from the raptor skull. The computer breaks it down into thousand of slices." He motioned a hand over the machine. "And this thing sculpts it, one layer at a time." As if on cue, the computer beeped in conjunction to a message reading 'complete'. "Its done!"

The excitement couldn't be contained on Billy's face. He was so overly ecstatic with himself for even thinking of the idea during Grant's absence. He just hoped the end product would bail him out of whatever potential trouble he might've landed himself in with the excessive spending. Pet leaned around the senior scientist to peek inside the machine as the top of it was lifted in utter curiosity.

Billy reached into a rectangular opening within the machine to snap out and extract a resin model. It was roughly a hand's length and looked something like a beige squash that was somewhat deformed. She tilted her head to the side. So that's what that looked like.

Like a trophy won in a competition, Billy held up the object. "I give you the resonating chamber of a Velociraptor. Listen to this!" He held up the broader end of the object and blew into it, it making a high pitched, drawn out bawl of a bark sound. Just hearing it made Pet roll her head on her shoulders and grimace. It was like nails on a chalk board to her.

"Don't do that again" Pet stated, but the spark igniting in Grant's eyes was all Billy needed. He blew into it again, the hybrid clenching her fists and leaving the tent. She stepped outside and exhaled a breath to calm the streak of anger tugging at her insides. Yeah, sure the crafted resonating chamber resembled something of a raptor's call, but it was the slightly off pitch of it that didn't settle well on her ears.

Coming up to her was the excavation's visitor. Kirby pointed at the tent. "Is Dr. Grant in there? I was told by that gentlemen over there," he pointed to Derek smirking and waving, "That I could find him here."

Pet gave the bounty hunter an acidic stare. "He's currently busy, at the moment" the woman answered.

He didn't have time for this. Time was of the essence. He poked his head into the tent to see a tall man wearing a tan jacket and hat standing just inside the tent. "Dr. Grant?" At hearing his name, the paleontologist turned to see who it was calling to him. "Paul Kirby." The excavation visitor extended a hand. "Kirby Enterprises."

Grant stepped out of the tent expecting to find Pet, but she was already storming over to where Derek was, working. Great. He wasn't really wanting to talk to anyone and hoped she would've used her people skills to assist him in thwarting the anticipated questions to come. Instead, she was using more aggressive skills to deal with whatever Derek had said or done to her.

Pet joined the man and slapped him across the back. "You son of a bitch...What the hell was that for?"

Derek held up his hands as though innocent and defending himself. "What? I didn't do anything!" He stepped around her and around a table to assist in carrying equipment to a nearby trailer. "You must have the wrong person!"

"You're so full of shit." She gathered a handful of equipment and too helped carry it. She barely make out what was being said between the two men. Kirby insisted, "Believe me, this will be worth your while."

Coming up behind the job propositioning man was Billy, answering for Grant. "We'd love to."

"Oh terrific! That's the spirit! This evening then" Kirby gleefully stated, patting the junior scientist on the shoulder. Grant did his best to conceal his annoyance by forcing a smile to the two men, but the subtle cutting of his eyes spoke his true thoughts.

Pet saw this and frowned. "Yeah, that wasn't such a good idea..."


	165. Bad Billy is Bad

**My apologies for taking so long in posting new content. Took a break from writing to do some drawing as well as pull a Pet in real life and join some friends at the rifle range to kill a few cardboard targets using a 308 and Kal tec 5.56. *giggles* Now, back to writing. **

* * *

**165 -** **Bad Billy is Bad**

Grant watched the man known as Paul Kirby drive off in his rather ho hum rental vehicle for someone prompting a business proposition. He turned his annoyed gaze to his protégé. "Why did you do that?"

Billy pressed his lips together timidly. "He called while you were gone and made mention of a job that would benefit the dig site. I figured what the hell, hear what he had to say."

Pet closed up the tail bed to a truck loaded down with plastered fossils and joined the two men. "So...what's going on?"

Grant grumbled. "Billy has taken it upon himself to schedule my life out for me."

The protégé and hybrid met stares. "Um...what?"

"Apparently I'm to join Mr. Kirby and his wife for dinner to discuss business." The older man started making his way to his trailer, more than ready to relax if only for a minute.

Pet sprinted to catch up with the man before continuing. "Well, that's a good thing isn't it? I mean, it could result in funding the site in some way. Maybe then we wont loose the dig in 3-4 weeks."

"Another decision made by ours truly" Grant jabbed, swinging open his trailer door and going inside.

Coming towards the group was the dig site's famous yappy, toy poodle Sugar. It was feet from the hybrid and barking obnoxiously. In a fit of annoyance, she hissed a bark back and sent the dog yelping back towards its owner. Billy chuckled. "I expect that damn dog to come up missing one day."

The people proceeded to join the senior scientist. Grant tossed his hat onto the kitchenette bar and fell onto the cushions of the couch. He toed off his shoes and sat there, letting his body sink into the comfortable softness beneath him. "You're joining me on this." He pointed a finger at Billy. "Since you got me into this, you're as much involved as I am."

Billy shrugged and dug his hands into his pants pockets. "Okay. That's fine."

Pet took a seat on the edge of the bar top and reached for the hat not far away. She placed it on her head and cocked it to the side. "What do you think? Yes or no?"

Grant sighed at the hybrid and waved a hand at her. "Give it here." Reluctantly she did and frowned. He sat his favored treasure next to him and continued. "So get cleaned up and ready to go, soon."

* * *

Pet was wearing a smile when she returned to Quarantine. She went into the open trailer door to see a sweaty Terrence sprawled out on the couch and drinking a bottle of water. The hybrid spoke. "Boy Scout is in such deep shit at the moment."

"Oh yeah?" Terrence sat up. "Derek said something about some business proposal being tossed Dr. Grant's way. How'd that go?"

The hybrid shrugged. "I don't know. Guess we'll see after the dinner meeting. Which reminds me..." She smiled to her friend. "Alan and Billy are going to meet these...Kirbys...at Catfish's. Apparently my being third in the list to run things isn't enough for me to join them. So, I decided..." She clapped her hands together and rubbed them. "Care to join me for drinks at Cat's? I _really_ want to know what's going on."

Terrence huffed a laugh. About that time, Derek poked his head into the trailer. "Am I hearing plotting and scheming?"

"Yes" the hybrid smirked out. "You in or out?"

The bounty hunter scoffed. "What do you think?"

Twenty minutes later, the Jeep pulled out and away from the dig site leaving a dust trail in its wake. Derek reached for the radio, Pet glaring at him from the passenger seat. "So help me if you turn on that damn song, I'll-"

Click. "I don't care! Say fuck it! Say fuck it!" The young man happily sang to the song and drummed his hands on the Jeep's steering wheel. Every time Pet would turn off the stereo, he'd turn it back on.

Terrence sighed in the back seat, shaking his head. Were they there yet?"

* * *

Meanwhile, as Billy tried to finish getting ready before leaving, his ears were starting to throb from his boss's tangent. "What the hell were you thinking blowing _that much money_ on that piece of equipment? Not to mention you're making business arrangements with this jackass, Paul Kirby. Who I have a bad feeling, about, by the way."

Billy finished combing down his hair with a wet comb and chuckled to himself. "Come on, Alan, its not like there's going to be a commitment or anything. Its just meeting with him and his wife and hearing what they're offering. No big deal, right?"

"To you" scolded Grant. "There's work I need to catch up on. Reports to review-"

"And all that has been taken care of" Billy reassured. "Believe it or not, everyone here has come to work well on their own with your constant being absent." The silenced the senior scientist. "We're not all incapable monkeys running around like crazy. We're just as capable to get work done, around here, as you are."

"Is that so?" Grant planted his hands on his hips. "I'm most likely going to loose my dig site in the next 3 weeks to that buffoon Dr. Burke because of your assumed bright idea at saving the dig! I've already sacrificed my wedding for this dig site and I will not have that be in vein because of one person's irresponsible actions!" He aimed a finger at the younger man. "If I loose my dig site and or my fiancé over this, I sure as hell hope you have connections somewhere else because any and all hopes of making a paleontologist are screwed." Billy frowned at small he felt. Grant checked his watch. "I hope you're ready because its time to go." With that, the older man left the trailer, slamming the door behind him.


	166. The Bar and Grill

**166 - The Bar and Grill**

The parking lot to many of the dig site's favorite bar and grill was packed, leaving Derek to have to park near the highway. The group got out and went into the quaint little set up and strode inside. Derek was greeted by an attractive waitress in her early twenties, it obvious the woman was interested in the man.

In frequent past visits, Derek would give the woman a passing a glance or two, but that was the extent of his interest. Sure, she was attractive with down right gorgeous, crystal blue eyes but after a conversation or two with the woman, he found her to be not his type. Instead, he preferred to keep things on a friendly level with her.

A table hostess greeted the three people, standing beside a sign mounted to the front counter reading 'Please Wait To Be Seated'. Pet sniffed of the air and hummed in delight to herself. "Smells like pot roast is the daily special!"

Terrence sighed. "Great."

He was tired of pot roast. Seemed like more times than not, the special was _always_ pot roast. When were they going to bring back the chicken and gravy special? Or the house chili special? He gazed around the place to see if there was possibly an available pool table. Sadly, there wasn't. They were all full, which was no surprise. The place was packed, after all.

The hostess, a woman in her early thirties and sporting a head full of bouncing blond curles, smiled to the people. "Table or booth?"

Derek spoke for the three. "Bar, please."

"Gotcha" she smiled out. "Will any of you be needing a menu?"

"Nah." With a nod, the hostess turned on a heeled boot and lead the three through the crowded place.

The three were lead to the bar area where they sat, barely squeezing in between a group of giggly vacationing girls and a heavy set man. Derek was convinced the man had taken permanent root in the chair he was often seen in more times than not. The young man had come to mentally name the patron as Big Wally, given his real name being Wallace.

The bartender, a bald headed man sporting a handlebar mustache and naturally wide brown eyes, smiled at the three. "Hey, folks."

"Hey Catfish" Derek stated. "How's business?"

The man nodded. "Doing good, doing good." He gestured at the boisterous establishment. "Busy as you can tell."

"Yeah, what's up with that?"

"Oil field workers came into the area here not too long ago and have basically taken over the place. Mac's down the road and Frog Hoppers outside of town have been just as busy, too." As the two men conversed, Pet swiveled her head to the front door to watch for a certain man's arrival. "I'm surprised its just you three. Where's the others? Alan and them joining up in a bit?"

"The Doc is supposed to be here in a bit with Boy Scout and a couple others to discuss business."

The man started laughing. "I see. Alright, then, folks. What can I get everyone tonight?"

"Usual for me" Terrence stated.

"Same" answered Derek. All eyes settled on Pet still gawking at the front door. Derek leaned back just enough to block her view as their eyes met. "Drink? Food? Something?"

Pet's hopeful eyes sunk in annoyance as she snorted. "You know what I like."

"Well usually when I order for you, you get pissed about it!"

"Only because you copy what I order!"

"_Utilize, _Pet. _Utilize_."

"Piss off."

Derek refaced the patiently waiting, and amused, man. "We'll have our usual for drinks and a couple orders of your boneless wings."

"Coming right up."

* * *

Not a word had been said between Paul Kirby and a nice dressed woman in the passenger seat of the car. They had been sitting in the parking lot of a rather questionable establishment for the past 30 minutes. The short, blond haired woman nervously bit at her finger nails, which drove the man seated in the driver's seat a bit into annoyance. She always did that. Always. And he hated it. Every car and or truck that either drove by or pulled up to the parking lot caused the woman to either rear up in the seat or strain her neck to get a better view of who it might be.

"Amanda... I'm almost certain he'll show up, okay? So can you please calm down?"

"I am calm" the woman answered impatiently.

Paul wasn't convinced as he continued to stare at the woman with unblinking eyes. A part of him was regretting on bringing her along, but then the set up he had been carefully planning in his head wouldn't seem as legit. "Would you like to go in and wait?"

Amanda almost had her face pressed against the glass when looking to see who the unloading driver was of a navy blue Dodge pickup. "Is that him?"

Paul took one look at the burly man and shook his head. "No, its not." He got out of the car, startling the woman.

"Is he here? Do you see him?" Amanda almost fell out of the car when scrambling to get out and look around.

"Will you just _calm down!_" He locked the doors to the rental and mentally face palmed at the antsy woman. "Come on, let's go." In their striding through the parking lot, Amanda almost ran into the side view mirror of a car due to her not paying attention. Had it not been for the man tugging her out of the way, she would've most likely hit it. "Watch where you're going, please."

They went inside and waited to be seated. Paul instantly started searching the many faces of those present within the bar and grill to see if maybe by chance, Dr. Grant and Billy were already there. Much to his dismay, they were not, but he did spot a few other familiar faces at the bar. He recognized the dark haired younger man and strawberry blonde man as being dig site workers. He recognized the woman, too, and debated on paying them a visit. He watched as the trio made cheers to the other with shot glasses in hand. They tipped up the glasses and downed their shots.

The same hostess who had seated the drinking trio also came to seat the newly arrived couple. "Evening. Just two?"

"Uh, four" Paul answered with a smile.

"Booth or table?"

"Table" Amanda instantly answered at the same time Paul answered booth. Both people stared at the other in question, the woman sighing. "Booth, please."

The hostess's eyes darted between the two customers. Paul forced a smile and answered again, "Booth, please." After weaving through the people, they were seated at a booth off to the side and just beyond a series of video games.

Terrence nudged the hybrid in the shoulder. "Hey, isn't that the uh..." He snapped his fingers to try and recall the name.

Pet took one look at the suited man and snorted. "Kirbys."

"Yeah."

Derek folded his arms over the bar top and leaned into them and smiled to Pet. "Why don't you go say hi. I'm sure he'd love to chat with you, again."

The hybrid grumbled. "I don't like that guy."

"Yup" Derek laughed. He looked to Terrence and tapped on his shoulder. "Hey Personality..." The addressed man rolled his eyes at his much loathed nickname. "Bets. I bet you a drink Pet will say how she doesn't like Mr. Kirby at least 10 times before the night is over with."

Terrence laughed. "_Just_ 10 times? I say _at least_ closer to 20."

"Deal." Both men shook hands behind Pet's back. She snorted in annoyance.


	167. A Very Tempting Offer

**167 - A Very Tempting Offer**

Grant was not happy. At all. He gave a sideways glare of annoyance to Billy while parking the museum truck not far from an all too familiar red Jeep. Great. He had a feeling Pet would end up forcing her presence in on the situation. He just hoped whoever it was with her would restrain her from butting into the business at hand. He began to run through the possible people accompanying the hybrid. Instant dread was all that filled the man when thinking about the notorious trouble maker, Derek. If it was Terrence then chances are there was still some sort of a responsible adult to keep the hybrid from making a scene. Nothing needed to be said of her guardian.

Both scientists went into the establishment, looking around for Mr. Kirby. Billy saw them and waved at the man and what could only be assumed was his wife. "They're over there" Billy stated, pointing to the couple waving them over.

Grant blurted, "Shit" when watching the three people at the bar.

He sighed in displeasure and in grumbling, decided it best to just leave the three people alone and conclude in conducting business. Maybe he could sneak past them and not be seen. A part of him felt bad for trying to ignore his fiancé, but knew it was probably for the best. She had a way of intimidating people and the last thing he wanted was for her to inadvertently ruin any chances of loosing funding.

Terrence met Grant's gaze and felt a bit thrown off by the level aggression in the usually collected features of the scientist. He took one look at Pet, chewing away at a small chicken bone, and felt it best to not tell her of the latest arrivals. Instead, he just shifted his attention on his half full beer bottle. Derek, attempting to be responsible being the driver and all, swished his straw around in his soda glass. He was bored. The tally count for the bet was already at three as the two men involved in the bet anxiously awaited for the count to favor their betted amount.

* * *

Over the course of the 15 minutes since being seated and in hearing what the Kirbys had to offer, something didn't seem right to Grant. At least, until, Paul Kirby took out a pen and check book in offering to write down whatever numbers were needed to sign him on for the business proposition. It was a very tough decision. He greatly disliked the idea of going back to any of the two islands serving as home to genetically created dinosaurs. But at the same time, the thought of gaining a healthy amount of money to continue the dig site almost counter acted his worries.

Grant forced back the smile tearing away at his lips and looked over to the obviously inebriated hybrid at the bar. Since she was so eager to prove herself useful to the dig site, he figured he'd bring her along as well. That and he'd rather have her there should anything hit the fan. Better to be safe than sorry. After all the safety precautions that failed the first park, he didn't put anything out of mind as far as a possibility of it or something similar to happening again. Oh hell. He face palmed himself. Had his experience at Jurassic Park _really_ made him something of an Ian Malcolm and chaos?

"Dr. Grant?" Paul questioned in worry. "Something the matter?"

The senior scientist waved a hand in the air to dismiss any concerns. "No, no, its fine." His eyes went back to the hybrid. "I do have one question, though." His scheming blue eyes cut back over to the man across the table. "Would you mind if I brought along a third person on the trip?"

Paul looked to Amanda in equal bafflement. Was this going to cost them more? The man aimed his gaze back on the paleontologist and forced an awkward smile. "Ah, well this trip wasn't really a tour for your excavation workers."

"I understand that, but this certain individual has been acting as a raptor specialist at the dig."

Paul's features took on those of a boy on Christmas. "Absolutely" he answered without consulting the woman to his right, first. "The more experience the better!"

"Good." Grant smiled in satisfaction when folding the check up and stashing it within his jacket's pocket. This was looking to be a good trip after all. He was more eager to get the trip over and done with so he could utilize the much needed funds to expand the dig site. "Excuse me for just a moment." He slid out of the booth and politely wove through people to where the hybrid sat at the bar. He tapped on her shoulder. "Veronica...can I please speak with you?"

The woman looked at him through glossy, blood shot eyes and smiled. "Oh hi Alan." She giggled. "Glad you could finally make it."

His annoyed gaze shot over to Derek. "How much has she had to drink?"

"Not much, actually. She's had two vodka shots and one of her Kamikaze drinks. What finally did her in was Personality, over there, giving her a Jägermeister shot."

"You two know better than to give her that!" Grant took the woman by the arm and escorted her outside.

When she tried to speak, her speech was slurred. "You're not mad at me are you?"

"No" he sighed out. "You know that business offer Mr. Kirby was talking about?" The hybrid lazily nodded. "He's wanting to go to Isla Sorna and do a little fly over for his and his wife's anniversary."

Pet burped, "What" and blinked in disbelief. "Alan, no. Not happening. You are not going to Isla Sorna. At all." He took the check out of his pocket and flashed it before the woman's face. She snatched the one of two checks she saw in front of her, only to figure out there was just one the whole time, and tried to read the fine print numbers. "$25. You're going to Isla Sorna for $25?"

"Read it again" he urged, pointing at the series of 0s.

"Whoa. $25,000." She giggled again. "Where did I get $25?" She folded up the check and stuffed it back in a pocket on the outside of his jacket. "Awesome. I'm going to go lay down, now. Okay?"

Pet stumbled over to the Jeep and tried the handle, only to find it locked. Grant, shaking his head at the woman, guided her to the truck and unlocked it. She crawled into the back seat and laid down, using the man's jacket as a pillow. He intended to have a long talk with the two men about this as soon as they got back to the dig site.

* * *

**Hello everyone. I have no forgotten about the story as I have been working on it when I can. Because of getting a night time based job, I hardly have the time to write anymore what with having to take care of 3 kids and 2 pups as well as TRY to keep a 2 story home clean. Not to mention, being awake enough to actually focus. Sundays and Mondays are my days off and though I managed to get some of chapter 168 written, I wasn't able to finish it because it was Mother's Day. I was able to write a bit more on Monday, but still wasn't able to finish it because of responsibilities getting in the way. **

**And why the long explanation on what's going on, here? To let readers know I still have every intention of finishing this...that I haven't forgotten it...and so I'll maybe stop getting snarky PMs demanding I keep writing. I get it LOL More content to read! I'm working on it! Just understand, I'm no longer that stay at home person who can slave away to writing all day like I used to. I'm working on it. I promise. When school lets out next week, I'll be able to write A LOT more. So please, just be patient and work with me. I pushed myself for those 2 months straight to write / post 1-3 chapters if not more a day, totaling over 130 chapters in that time, for my readers. I'm hoping to have this next chapter finished and posted by this Sunday.**

**My deepest apologies for the long wait in new content as I wasn't my plan. Life happened.**


	168. To Costa Rica

**This new job is kicking my butt _ I barely have any time to do anything anymore :( I'm truly hoping to find more time to write when I can...**

* * *

**168 - To Costa Rica**

"_Yes, It's me again...And I'm back. Hoo, creep, oh ah, oh ah, oh ah."_ The sound of a good song playing through the headphones attached to a portable CD player sitting in Pet's lap was well welcomed. It was at least a break from the rhythmic pounding of her heart echoing in her ears.

Her head was about to explode in a throbbing pain as her stomach occasionally flopped over its self. She felt like absolute hell and now, she was on a plane in route to a place she'd rather never go back to. She took hold of the plane's seat handle and reclined it back. A rather muscular man with a head full of neatly groomed, dark hair and a well trimmed goatee was seated across the aisle to Pet's right. He studied the hung over woman behind the concealment of his heavily tinted sun glasses.

The man questioned the woman. "Should you feel the urge to be sick, there's bags in the seat pocket in front of you."

"I'm not going to be sick," Pet groaned.

Billy leaned over the back of the seat, chuckling at the woman. "Bet you wont drink any more of those Jägermeister shots, will you?" The hybrid flipped the hood of her zip up jacket over her head.

"Ugh...what is it with you people and bets?" The man simply continued to snicker at the woman. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to lay here and listen to music until the batteries die."

"We've got quite a ways to go before we're there." Billy patted Pet on a booted foot. "At least another 6 hours flight time. Then its to the hotel in Costa Rica to stay the night so we can fly out first thing in the morning to tour the island."

"Figures. In that case, when the batteries die...Wake me when we get there." She balled up in the seat to get comfortable, hoping to feel better sooner than later. Getting up at 6 AM to fly out by 8 was not her idea of fun. This little business adventure had better be worth it all.

* * *

A jolt through the aircraft rattled the interior of it, jostling Pet awake. She cracked an eye open to look around. As she sat up, she felt something wet on her lower face. "Ah yuck" came a call of annoyance. The hybrid could not believe she had just drooled on herself in her sleep.

Billy tried his best to restrain his giggles, but it was no use. Especially after hearing the frustrated snort from the hybrid. Fervently, Pet began wiping off her face. The well groomed man merely watched the scene in both amusement and quiet contemplation.

After finally biting back his giggling, Billy questioned. "What's wrong Nica?"

Another snort. "Shut up..." Pet was wiping off her face when the thought came to her. "Wait, you didn't take a picture did you?"

Grant rolled his gaze to his protégé, a bit curious to know how this was going to play out. The junior scientist answered behind an ear to ear smile. "Maybe."

"Oh you-" Pet sprung forward in her seat to give a smack upside the head to the man, but he already knew it was coming and ducked it. "Once we get off this plane, I'm kicking your ass!"

Paul couldn't help but hear the commotion taking place towards the back of the plane and casually tossed a backwards glance to them. His mental questioning the two reflected loudly on his face, Grant seeing this.

"Something wrong, Mr. Kirby?" The senior scientist questioned.

To be honest, Paul wasn't sure. "No, no, it's fine." He then redirected his bafflement to Amanda seated across the aisle. She wasn't even paying attention, which was no surprise.

The plane came to a slow as it approached its runway exit. After taxing to its parking spot, the plane came to a stop and its wheels chocked. The engines were shut down and the door hatch opened by one of the two men seated in the cockpit. He was a bit shorter and thinner than the accompanying black man and with a balding head, as well.

If Pet remembered correctly, he had introduced himself as Udesky? Eh, something like that. She was in a borderline drunk and hung over stage and could careless about anything at that point. "Alright, folks," Udesky called. "Welcome to Costa Rica. Make sure to get any belongings you don't feel comfortable leaving on the plane and watch your step when coming down these stairs."

Amanda seemed reluctant to get out of the plane. She grabbed Paul, now standing in the aisle and about to de-board, by his shirt's sleeve to pull him down to her level. She whispered in his ear, "Do we have to stop for the night? Can't we just...fly out there tonight?"

Paul scooted out of the way so the three scientists could leave. He took a knee before the woman and took her hands in his. "We have to wait till the morning." Amanda opened her mouth to say something, but her words were cut off by the man continuing. "Its late and we wont be able to see anything even if we did fly out there tonight." The woman frowned, knowing what was being said was true. "We're leaving out first thing in the morning so we'll have plenty of time to fly around the island." Paul patted the smaller and softer hands in his. "It'll be alright. I promise. Okay?" He forced a convincing smile for her sake and nodded his head. Amanda nodded in understanding and followed the man down the tiny staircase leading from the plane.

Onto the tarmac they stood, both people at a loss of what to even think when watching the female scientist chase the younger man of the group around the back of the plane. Even the black man, introduced as Nash, had to leap backwards to avoid being collided into. The look on his face mirrored that of the Kirbys. Grant was the center focal point of their glaring in question and he sighed, planting his hands on his hips. Why did he bring these two along, again?

* * *

Within a couple hours, everyone was checked into their rooms at a questionable motel down the street from the airport. The rooms had decorative shutters around the outside windows, or at least were supposed to. One room three doors down had one shutter completely gone while another was hanging by a nail and swinging in the ocean breeze. Another room had no shutters at all. Just an older red paint where they used to be when the building was repainted a tan color. No comment could made about the roof's condition.

Inside the rooms looked a tad bit worse for wear. The carpet was stained with what, one could only guess, and the paint on the walls chipping. Water stains splotched the white and patched up ceiling. Pet dreaded the condition of the bathroom and looked to Grant in uncertainty.

She stated, "I have no problem sleeping on the ground, or in a tree or a dino graveyard but this...Nah ah."

Grant pulled back the bed linens of the single double bed to find the bed sheets at least in a clean condition. "Not every place can be the Four Seasons, Nica."

"I know this, Alan, and I'm not trying to come off the wrong way about another country's way of life but...for someone who supposedly has a lot of money, you'd think the Kirbys would be a little bit more willing on spending the extra dollar for a higher class establishment. Hell, there were some places in Kenya that looked better than this. And they were from tribal people living off the land!"

The scientist sighed. "Well, at least our hosts were generous enough to prepay for our overnight accommodations."

Pet dropped the backpack she had been carrying onto the dark blue... or was that black? floor and sat down at the foot of the double bed. "Had I known this is where we were to be staying, I would've borrowed some money from Robert for a nice hotel room."

Grant slid off his hat and rested it on the room's small TV located on a dresser and table combination before joining the woman at the foot of the bed. "Its just for a night, babe. If you can survive four years on an island with dinosaurs, I'm sure you can survive a night here." He didn't have to look at the woman to know her blue green eyes were locked on him.

"Can you a survive a night, here?" Finally, the two people locked gazes in skepticism.

* * *

Amanda, laying on the bed and looking upwards with unblinking eyes at the water stain on the ceiling, questioned to Paul. He was laying on the floor and on top of the bed's down comforter double folded. "Remind me, again, why we didn't make reservations at the hotel a couple miles up the road?"

The man frowned, looking at the same ceiling stain. "It would've cost an additional $130 dollars."

"Well that's not too bad."

"A person," he continued. "We're limited on money after that $25,000 to Dr. Grant."

A drop of water fell from the ceiling and onto Amanda's arm. "How much did you spent on this place?"

Paul sighed. This was going to be a long night.


	169. Mislead

**169 - Mislead**

6 AM came much too late for the five travelers. After a much welcomed, and much too short, hot shower the group was ready to go and loaded back up in the plane. Neither asked the other how they slept for the dark circles under their eyes spoke plenty enough. It was at least another hour and a half travel time before they were at Isla Sorna, and Grant planned to take advantage of it. His fiancé was, at least, as she was stretched out in her seat with her jacket's hood over her eyes.

"Its your turn to be nice," Grant stated to Billy. "Wake me when we get there." And with that, he reclined his seat's back and rested his hat over his eyes. It wasn't the most comfortable of positions, but it beat the hell out of trying to sleep in a dingy motel.

Thankfully, sleep came swiftly as it swept the scientist away. That was, until he was abruptly awoken post a disturbing dream he had just had. His mind was fuzzy after waking up and for a moment there, was unsure if he was still dreaming or not. Grant's panic filled blue eyes searched the aircraft's cabin as he looked between a slightly worried hybrid and an amused Billy.

"Wake up," Billy called out from his smiling. "We're almost there."

Grant continued to gasp for air while trying to calm his still racing nerves. Pet furrowed her brow at the man. "Alan, are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," he wheezed out, forcing himself to an upright sitting position. "Just a little jumpy, I suppose." The man forced a smile for the woman's sake and turned to the window to peer out of it.

Sure enough, just visible between the breaks in the clouds, was the much anticipated Isla Sorna. Another rush of adrenaline seized Grant's chest. It was hard to imagine being at the one of the two places he swore to never go to no matter what. Funny what money could do to a person's judgment.

Instantly, Billy began extracting his camera's various pieces out of his rugged camera bag and began piecing it together. He was not about to miss _any_ opportunity at getting a priceless picture of any type of dinosaur. Let alone, pass up the chance to photograph the beautiful terrain. The plane buzzed over the shoreline and through a mountain pass where a river snaked through the base. Luscious forests painted the underlying vista in an assortment of greens as the passing by cloud cover's shadows danced over it all.

Over a stretch of mountains the plane went, allowing Pet to see everything that looked so different from above than what she remembered from below. As she continued to peer outside her own window, she could see what remained of a large perimeter fence off in the distance, its posts towering above all else. She was starting to get a sense of where she was just by looking at it.

Towards the front of the plane, Paul and Amanda Kirby were just as glued to their windows as the others were. But they didn't see the land for what it was like their hired companions did. Even after passing over a tree line that opened up to a field of green did they not see the true marvels of the island.

Grant leaned over in his seat to peer through the window closest to Billy, his eyes bright with boyish amazement. There, wandering in a clearing visible beyond the plane's left wing tip was a herd of dinosaur, a triceratops being the most prominent.

He stated in awe struck, "My God, I had forgotten."

The smile across his features wasn't that of a scientist, but of a man who had a passion for the magnificent creatures. Pet could care less about the dinosaurs outside. She had spent far too long around the different species to bother giving them a second glance. Just watching the senior scientist was rewarding enough. A part of her was glad she agreed to come along. Otherwise, she wouldn't get to witness this moment. But another part of her still had that hair raising chill of paranoia in the belief anything could happen.

Even Billy couldn't fight his own exploding excitement and started laughing in overwhelming disbelief that he was seeing what he was actually seeing. In his taking pictures of the herds scattering from the plane's noise, Billy could hear Mr. Kirby say, "We did it honey! We're here," as though in disbelief it would ever happen.

Udesky called from the front of the plane, "Cooper! If you see anything, yell up!"

What? Pet and Grant looked to each other in utter bafflement. How could they _not_ see anything! There were at least 4 species of dinosaurs breaking out into a stampede, down there, and they couldn't see it? What was wrong with these people?

Cooper yelled back in sarcasm, "No, I thought I'd keep it to myself."

Grant cocked a brow at the man and titled his head to the hybrid. Was it the way the plane was angled that no one could see anything? "I'm sorry. Everyone, if you look out the left of the plane, you can see a whole herd of Brachiosaurus."

Pet blurted out, "Yeah, they're seriously _right there!_ How can you miss them?"

"In fact," the scientist continued, "You can see at the front of the group the alpha male grazing there." But his words feel on deaf ears.

Paul called to the pilots. "Udesky? Nash? How about up front? You guys see anything?" 

"Nothing yet, Mr. Kirby" answered the co-piloting Udesky.

As if he was really paying attention to the man in the back. He, too, had found himself distracted by the large creatures dotting the grassy plain. As much as he wanted to keep circling around the open area, admiring the hard to imagine, he knew he had work to do.

Grant was absolutely lost on what to think of these people. Right there! Just as Pet had said, they were _right...there! _ "Mrs. Kirby, look! Out here, you'll see a group of Triceratops-"

Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Nash interrupted the mindless babble from the man. "Mr. Kirby, we have a landing strip. You want me to put her down?" 

Pet's head snapped from her left facing window and to the visible pilots. "What? Are you crazy?"

"No!" Paul almost leapt out of his seat. "I told you, I want to circle first...see the whole island."

Billy briefly paused in his taking pictures to bore holes in the back of Mr. Kirby's head in speechlessness. Even Grant was flabbergasted. Whatever moment of care free both men had was gone at the mention of wanting to land. The older man's brow lowered in question. "What do you mean? You can't land!"

"Absolutely not!" Pet backed. "What the hell are you trying to get at, Mr. Kirby? You made no mention _at all_ at wanting to land at _any_ point in time!"

Paul waved a hand in the air to try and both silence and calm the frantic scientists. "Hold on, I can explain..."

Grant wasn't about to be hushed that easily. "You cannot land on this island!" His tone of voice aimed directly at the man before him caused Amanda to sink a bit in her seat. It was obvious he was irritated.

"It will be fine. Don't worry, please!" No matter how hard Paul tried to ease the passengers, it was no use.

"Are you crazy?" Grant got to his feet in hopes of possibly talking sense to the pilots. Surely someone on this damned plane had an ounce of common sense.

"Sit down!" Demanded Paul, him and Amanda also getting to their feet to restrain the man.

Movement from Cooper got Pet's attention as she noticed him sliding off his shades and too, getting up. In a quick motion, he was at the senior scientist and grabbing him by the back of his jacket's collar. A harsh hit to the back of Grant's head knocked him out cold and sent him unconsciously to the aisle floor. That didn't sit well with the hybrid at all.

"Oh shit," blurted Billy and in almost being knocked over by Pet.

In a hiss of a snort, she had jumped to her feet and was lunging at Cooper from over the aircraft seats. Billy knew this was about to get interesting as he checked on his mentor while delightfully watching the hybrid tackle Cooper to the floor in furiousness.


	170. Amanda's Lunch Bell

**170 - Amanda's Lunch Bell**

Without warning, a strong pair of hands belonging to Nash had a hold on the frantic hybrid as they yanked her off Cooper. Pet shrilled in frustration and tried to lash out only to find herself thrown over a seat and restrained with an arm twisted behind her back. "_Enough!_" Nash's voice boomed through the ears of those present. "I ought to have Udesky land this plane and I kick your ass out right now!"

Billy intervened. "Whoa, hey now!"

"I don't care who you are or how much the Kirby's paid you to join this little party, but I will not have you attacking any of my men. Understood?"

Wait a minute. Billy recalled a previous conversation he had with Cooper in which it was mentioned how he knew the Kirbys through their church. And now he was one of Nash's men? What was going on, here? Whatever it was, he was almost certain Grant wasn't going to happy.

Billy took hold of one of Nash's hands restraining the woman and calmly spoke. "The last thing you want to do is piss her off anymore than already. The only thing keeping you safe at this moment are those shoes." He gestured to the woman's booted feet with a downward nod of his head.

What was this nerd talking about? "What?"

"Just let her go. She wont cause anymore problems if you just let her go."

From the front of the plane, Udesky called out. "Circling back around to the airstrip. I'm bringing her in, Nash."

Pet snorted. "I'll disembowel the next son of bitch who dares lay a hand on Alan...or on Billy, too, for that matter."

Paul and Amanda looked nervously to the other. Who was this woman and what had they gotten themselves into? Billy continued. "Veronica...stop it." An aggravated hiss of a snort came from the woman.

Frustrated and knowing there was other stuff needing to be done, Nash harshly released the woman and gave her a final hateful glare before returning to the cockpit. She followed the man with her eyes while massaging her sore wrist. Movement from Cooper shifted her watch back over to him, both people carefully keeping tabs on the other.

The plane began to descend as the tiny airstrip could be seen through the front windshield. Udesky called out, "Everyone, I need you to get back in your seats and buckle up!"

Billy returned to his seat, but Pet had no intentions of leaving Grant's side. She took hold of a seat's armrest while keeping a hold on the still unconscious man. The aircraft rattled in its touching down and soon, came to a slow. Before the engines had even shut down, Cooper was out of his seat and at the back netting containing several heavy duty cases full of who knew what.

Nash left the shut down procedures to his co-pilot while he joined the other in the back with the equipment. It didn't take long for certain cases to be moved to the outside of the plane, the Kirby's close on the other men's heels down the small stairway. Pet was on full alert. Why had they landed? They were told they couldn't land. They shouldn't have landed.

Pet started gently shaking Grant to wake him. "Come on, Alan, wake up." Nothing. "Wake up, babe, come on." Still nothing.

That was when Pet started hearing Amanda calling out loud on a bullhorn. She was calling out for someone. The hybrid looked to Billy and shook her head. "I knew there had to be more to this than what we were told."

She quickly started unlacing her boots. "I don't think you want to do that around these people."

"Oh yeah, I do." She ripped off one shoe and began unlacing the other. "Try to wake up Alan. I think he'd want to know about this." A few shakes of the unconscious man later, Billy watched his mentor start to wake. "He's starting to come to."

Grant's groggy eyes blinked in dismay as he propped himself up. The plane wasn't moving. "Billy, tell me we didn't land."

Pet snorted. "Oh yeah, we landed alright."

Amanda could be heard calling out, "Eric! Ben!"

Grant looked between Pet and Billy, the younger man stating, "I think they're looking for someone."

The hybrid leaned over a seat to look out the window. "A couple people actually, seeing how that twit is calling for two people." She then looked down at Grant trying to sit up. She offered him a hand and helped hoist him to his feet.

The plane spun around in circles in his suddenly standing up. He leaned against a seat back for support while Pet and Billy helped stabilize him. The younger man questioned. "You alright, there?"

With a nod of his head, Grant grumbled, "Yeah," and went for the open hatch. Pet picked up his hat that had fallen under a seat and handed it back to its owner. The man was quick to replace it to his head when walking out of the plane.

Paul saw the remaining passengers emerge from the place and questioned. "Dr. Grant, are you alright?"

The next person to ask him that was about to get hit, next. "Who hit me?" Questioned the senior scientist.

"I'm sorry we had to be so-" but Paul's trying to explain was abruptly cut off.

"_Who_ hit me?"

Paul was beginning to feel like a cornered animal with the way all three scientists were glaring at him. He quickly reverted this aggression towards the primary culprit. "That would be, uh, Cooper." He pointed to the armed man disappearing into the forest with a rather sizable gun in hand.

Grant's eyes widened in curiosity and in panic. Suddenly the wanting to resolve why he was hit was erased from his mind. "What are they doing?"

Pet cocked a brow at Cooper. "Oh for crying out loud! Don't tell me you people are out here to hunt!"

Paul, once more, attempted to explain things. "Setting up a perimeter to make the place safe. These guys are good!"

"Safe? _What_?" Now Pet was even more enraged. "Of all the-"

Grant cut her off. "Trust me, on this island, there's no such thing as safe!" He pointed to the plane behind him without taking his tempered gaze off the man before him. "We have to get back on that plane!" He then pointed to Amanda still obnoxiously calling out into the wilderness. "And tell your wide to stop making that noise! That is a very, very bad idea!"

Billy could hear Pet's low growl from where he stood and watched her from the corner of his eyes. She said in a rather dark, humorously way, "Ring, ring! The lunch bell is rang. Come and get it..." She snorted and deviously smiled at Billy.

He wasn't sure if that comment was intended for all of them or the Mrs. only. Something told him his didn't want to ask.

Paul sharply turned and call for the woman. "Amanda! Amanda! Honey, Dr. Grant said that's a bad idea!"

The woman could barely hear what was being said other than who was calling to her. She turned to face the four people. "What?"

Pet buried her face in her hand and shook her head. Was that woman _really_ that oblivious to the obvious? Again, the Mr. yelled out to the blond woman, "He says its a bad idea!"

"What's a bad idea?"

A load roar answered Amanda's question and fearfully, she turned around to re-face the forest. That didn't not sound good at all. Mutually shared horror overcame the group. Billy's eyes widened as Grant's heart stopped in his chest in remembrance of the all too unforgettable occurrence called Jurassic Park.

Paul unblinking eyes remained fixated in the direction of the roar. "What was that?"

Pet rolled her head on her shoulders and clenched her jaw in anger. "What Dr. Grant was trying to avoid happening _had anyone listened!"_

Billy breathless stated, "Its a Tyrannosaur."

Grant shook his head. He had heard a Tyrannosaur and this sounded nothing like that. "I don't think so. It sounds bigger."

* * *

**3 chapters written and posted in what I could manage to find isn't bad. I actually wrote 4 chapters, but the 4th takes place after the group is recovered from the island. Someone gets word Pet is with those recovered...Guess who that someone is? :) Well my two days off of work have come and gone. Hopefully tonight will be an early night and I can come home and write some more. **


	171. Back In A Tree10 Years Later

**Sorry its taken a little while to post chapter 171. Work is kicking my butt, as usual. Hopefully I can get more written this weekend. Saturday is going to be busy, so I'm hoping Sunday if not Monday. In the meantime, I'll write what I can.**

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**171 - Back In A Tree...10 Years Later  
**

"We have to leave! We have to leave now," Udesky frantically announced in his emerging from the forest undergrowth.

Right on his heels was Nash, both men pushing past the others when rushing to the plane. Pet hissed a screech. "This is why you were told _not to land the damn plane!"_

Grant grabbed the woman by her arm and urged her inside the aircraft. Billy questioned, "What about the other guy?"

The hybrid snorted. "He can take one for the team, for all I care."

Udesky replied, "Cooper's a professional. He can handle himself."

A fierce growl rang through the dense forest followed by heavy gun fire. That startled the lingering group even more. They weren't about to stand around, and rushed into the aircraft. Nash had to force some sort of composure over himself as his panicking mind momentarily overshadowed his flight training. He had done this too many times to count and yet, he had forgotten the start up procedures.

He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. "Come on, man, get it together."

He then refocused himself on his task and successfully started the engines. He didn't care if the other passengers were safely secured in their seats or not when beginning to propel the grounded aircraft forward and around for take off.

"Give me a hand, Udesky!" called Nash.

He had been so caught up in trying to get the plane started that he had forgotten something important: his own seat restraint buckles. This wasn't happening, this wasn't happening! He was a damn professional, not some fresh out of flight school newbie! The aircraft was starting to gain speed, now, the more Nash pushed the throttle forward.

Sitting in her seat, and death gripping the arm rests, was Pet. She could feel their speed accelerating and wanted to believe there was hope of getting out of this situation before it actually started.

Everyone's eyes were locked forward in their sockets, watching the runway get shorter and shorter. Would there be enough runway for them to take off? That's when they saw a bloodied up Cooper come running into view.

Paul sat more so on the edge of his seat. "What are you doing?"

"That's Cooper!" Grant exclaimed.

"We can't just leave him! He needs our help!"

"_Quiet!"_ Bellowed Udesky.

The view outside the plane was then obstructed by a large, carnivorous dinosaur with a long snout and sporting a fin on its back. Pet's eyes widened and brow furrowed. She breathed out, "What the-" but her words were cut off by the plane lurching into the air.

In one powerful motion of the dinosaur's sharp toothed jaws, Cooper was swept up. A sharp jolt from the plane impacting the creature sent streaks of blood across the windshield and along the sides of the plane. A prominent light flashed amongst the others on the cockpit's control panel.

Udesky yelled out, "Fuel cut off!"

Shit. That was not what Nash was wanting to hear. "We're going down!"

The blue sky, promising an airborne escape, was quickly replaced by the lush green tree tops of the forest. Pet pressed herself further into her seat. "Brace for impact!"

Into the trees they went, limbs snapping and metal crunching against the other's influence. The window was shattered and the wings ripped off as though the plane was a fragile toy. Amanda could be heard yelling in horror through the gut wrenching sounds of their almost certain doom.

Then suddenly and without warning, the remaining fuselage of the aircraft came to an abrupt stop, sending everyone forward in their seats. It took a couple minutes for everyone to come to and realize the situation they were now in.

Pet grabbed at her neck, feeling a bit sore from the sudden stop, and groaned. "Alan...are you alright?"

The addressed man slowly sat up in his seat and looked around. "Yeah..." He looked over to his protégé. "Billy?"

"I'm alright," the junior scientist answered with in his own composing of himself.

Pet continued. "What about you guys up front? Udesky? Nash?"

"We're alright up here," replied Udesky, sounding a bit shaken himself. "Everyone just stay put."

The hybrid snorted. "Exactly, where are we supposed to go, hmm?"

Grant shot her a negative look. Given their present situation, her snarky comments were not needed at that time. He wearily got up and went to the back hatch. Nash loudly questioned, "Who has a satellite phone?"

Paul was quick to answer. "I do, I do! It's right here!" He began rummaging around in a bag that had been sitting at his feet and withdrew the desired object.

Another snort came from the hybrid. "Well look at that...he did come in use...other than wasting valuable air."

"Enough," demanded Grant, followed by a stern glare. He knew she wasn't going to listen. She never did.

After a try of the hatch's handle, it opened but not very far. He tried to push against it, only to find it useless. It was at least open enough to allow him to peer out and...down...Oh boy, that was a hell of a drop down. Grant was feeling a bit dizzy just looking at the ground from his current height. Great. Because this didn't bring back memories from the first island. This must've been what Tim felt like, stuck in a car...in a tree. Damn. This just kept getting better and better.

He closed the hatch and glanced at the many pairs of eyes looking to him in question. "We haven't landed, yet."

Had he been more aware when looking to the ground, he would've noticed the vibrations in the pools of water signifying the approach of something rather large. Pet began peeling off her socks, Billy seeing her. "Wait, what are you doing?"

Her raptor eyes met his panicked expression. "Preparing for the inevitable."

Paul was confused. "What?" He gazed down at the woman, now barefoot and standing in the aisle. "Oh my God, what the hell?" His wide blue eyes met her animalistic ones and felt a tingle of fear tear down his spine. "What are you?"

"I'm pissed off. That's what."

"Veronica," Grant warned again.

"Damn it, Alan, we're stuck in a tree on an island full of dinosaurs. I don't think I need to remind you of a similar situation from oh, 10 years back, do I? You know it as much as I do how this will most likely turn out." A rumble through the aircraft brought a yelp from Amanda and everyone grabbing onto what they could for stabilization. "As I was saying," Pet growled.

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**Managed to get lucky and get off work early to go see Jurassic World. Now I'm REALLY wanting to write on this project even more! Sadly, though, I've been working A LOT this past...more so than usual. Worked Monday, which is normally my day off, then worked back to back days of 12 hours. I'm not quite sure when I'll be getting around to working on this other than trying for Sunday and Monday. During the downtime at work, I've already written down some notes for the first two chapters post JP3. Now...to incorporate them into the story...When I get the time... :(**


	172. From Bad To Worse

**My apologies for posting chapter 172 so late. It's been hectic OMG busy at work with having to temporarily cover both shifts. At least I got a break from work on Sunday to help a friend in displaying his JP themed Jeep for a local theater to promote Jurassic World. Squee! And we were dressed up in cosplay, too! That was literally an all day thing. Then back to work, Monday. Luckily I was able to write a couple chapters, tonight. So here's 172 and 173. I'm super excited to get through the JP3 content. When its slow at work, I've been writing in a notebook and have 2 post JP3 chapters written. Oh the giggly excitement in wanting to hurry up and get to that point to start posting pre-Jurassic World content.**

* * *

**172 - From Bad to Worse**

The nose of the aircraft was starting to point downwards, a bit, as a bottle of water rolled along the cabin's floorboard. Pet's eyes followed the bottle in its journey to the front of the tree mounted plane when she saw it: a single, green eye through the windshield's shattered glass.

She wasn't the only one who saw it, for Amanda saw it too. She started yelling and tried to get Paul's attention. Pet's breath became heavy in anticipation.

Grant growled, "Keep still! Keep still!"

He wasn't sure how secure the aircraft was amongst the tree limbs and was worried any unnecessary jostling might cause it to break loose. He remembered how easily the SUV from the first island fell from its entanglement in its tree branches and didn't want to take any chances of this possibly being going the same way.

"Relax," Paul began in trying to calm his frantic wife. "What is it? What?"

Pet hissed a screech, "This is going to go badly..."

Grant was a bit alarmed. Anything that had the usually composed during otherwise dangerous situations hybrid on full alert had him concerned. "What?"

The fuselage started to rattle, again, and began shaking too. But this didn't feel like them falling out of a tree. This felt like something had them and was trying to get to them. The metal frame of the aircraft, itself, sounded as though it was being torn apart.

Pet blurted out, "Shit, shit, this isn't good!"

Nash yelled out, "Hang on, everyone!"

Des pite the grip Paul had on the seat backs, it was no use. His feet failed him against the further angling of the fuselage and to the floor he fell. He began to slide forwards as he tried to stop himself by grabbing onto whatever he could.

The sounds of stressed metal creaked loudly against the panicked screams of the stranded people as the nose of the fuselage was ripped off. The owner of the green eyed stare, which was the same long snouted and finned dinosaur from earlier, came better into view.

"Ah shit," Pet whimpered.

The creature reached its snout into the broken off section of the aircraft and managed to clamp itself down on the scrambling Nash's legs. His cries for help were blood curdling. "Help me!"

But there was nothing they could do. Had it not been for Nash's placement, the dinosaur would've grabbed Amanda instead.

A familiar shrill sounded from Pet as she both ran and climbed over the front seat, knocking aside Paul in the process. She leapt out of the ravaged cockpit and into the air. After hearing the shrill, Grant had a feeling what was coming next and tried to stop her. But he was too slow in trying to reach out her and called, "Nica, _no!_"

Pet landed on the dinosaur's snout and instantly dug her sickle claws into its flesh. She tried to claw at its face, only to remember that her finger's claws were dulled down. What good she was! It still didn't stop her from compensating by using her toe's claws.

The dinosaur dropped Nash, which Pet was counting on happening in hopes of he could possibly get away. Air was knocked out of the injured man's lungs as he laid on the ground dazed for a moment. That was quite a fall and one he wasn't expecting to take, especially in his condition. But he couldn't, no wouldn't, lay there for long. He had to move it to safety if he wanted to remain living. That is, if there was such a thing as safe in his particular situation. Nash could hear the dinosaur roaring in protest to the attack it's snout was receiving.

The carnivore brought a clawed hand to its face and tried to swipe at the attacker. Pet saw this and in an effort to dodge the three claws, lost her grip on the dinosaur's snout. One good swing of the head sent Pet flying through the air and to a hard landing somewhere in the bushes. Now that that was over, the dinosaur refocused on its previous target.

Thunderous footing echoed behind Nash, him afraid to look behind him until a bone crushing weight stopped him from crawling away any further. His screams of pain were halted in his throat from his ribs breaking beneath the massive foot holding him down.

From inside the plane, all the others could do was watch. Grant, however, was frantically searching the bushes where he saw the hybrid land. "Nica!" He called out.

Bad idea. The dinosaur heard the call from within the fuselage and abandoned his lifeless prey to stare right at the remaining people. It loudly roared, remnants of flesh dangling from its sharp teeth. The group scurried to the back of the wreckage to avoid being the next meal the creature should obtain should it stick its snout back within the plane.

It finally donned on them that that, too, was a bad idea. Their weight collected at one point caused the fuselage to dislodge from the tree limbs and fall to the ground. Thankfully, the remaining tail section's crumbling cushioned their falling, allowing the impact to not be so severe. It was still enough to steal the air from everyone's lungs, though. But it wasn't over from there. They were now on the ground, meaning in better reach of the ravenous dinosaur.

Large feet passed before their eyes and around to the side of the aircraft. A forceful shove of the dinosaur's snout sent the wreckage rolling over its self again and again. The dinosaur gave another roar and proceeded after its prize. Everyone within the plane saw this and knew; this was definitely not going to be good.

Pet started to come to when hearing the fierce roar and blinked back the dizziness that made it difficult for her to get her balance. She must've been knocked out. She then brought a hand to a painful throb at the side of her head and felt a warm dampness with her fingers. When she pulled her hand back, she saw it was blood. She snorted in both pain and annoyance and fought to stand up again.

The dinosaur. Alan. Billy. Oh no. Pet quickly shot her attention upwards where she thought the plane should be. But it wasn't. Had it not been for the forward section of the plane, she would've thought she was looking at the wrong tree. She cried out, "Alan!"

Stumbling forward, that's when she saw Nash. Or what remained of him anyway. His upper torso was gone and all that remained his lower half. She was glad she had a strong stomach and stumbled around the remains to follow the bits of plane debris and foot prints. Another loud roar and the gut wrenching sound of metal crunching got Pet's attention. There, roughly 50 yards away, was the fuselage and the dinosaur damn near tearing it apart.

Another fierce shrill escaped the hybrid and she ran the fastest she could towards it. She leapt into the air and onto the dinosaur's left haunch. She used her sickle claws to help her climb higher up and hopefully out of it's jaws' reach. Pet yelled out, "Get out of there! Run!"

Grant recognized that voice and the raptor like shrills. He could hear the hybrid call for them to run and knew it was either now or never. "Follow me! This way!"

The group did as told and tore through the forest underbrush to escape. Pet must've struck a nerve when assaulting the dinosaur because it quickly stopped what it was doing to roar out in pain. It quickly spun around and tried to reach the attacker. No such luck. Another quick spin and stamping of its foot did manage to shake her loose, though.

Pet shrieked out. Back to the ground she fell and rolled out of the way of being chomped down on. She wasn't sure which way the group had ran and didn't want to follow them for fear of leading the ferocious animal right to them. She shrieked at the dinosaur and ran towards the forest, her thinking she was being followed. That was, until the dinosaur decided to pursue more targets versus just the one.

Pet stopped in her tracks to watch the dinosaur disappear into the dense forest. She decided to follow. She saw it stopped in a small clearing and trying to tear through a group of trees where she figured the others had ran. It didn't take it long to find another alternative and she panicked. She had to find the others before the carnivore did. Just as she was running through the forest to find them, they were running towards her.

Pet called out, "Alan! Billy!"

Grant saw her and felt momentarily relieved she was still alive and alright. As if he had his doubts. "Run, Nica!"

"What?" Not but half a second later, a Tyrannosaur came into Pet's view. "Are you kidding me!?"

Grant grabbed the woman and drug her behind him when going back the way she had just come. As if things couldn't get any worse, the ground found themselves about to run into the big, finned dinosaur. Everyone scattered and as Grant tried to run into the woods off to the side he stumbled over a rotted, fallen tree. Pet rolled away from getting stepped on as the Tyrannosaur stepped onto the fallen tree.

Pet screeched at the passing dinosaur and to the tree to find Grant yelling and obviously shaken. She grabbed him up and now, it was her turn to drag him behind her as they kept low and crawled to safety. Once clear of the two challenging dinosaurs, the two people got to their feet and ran after the others.


	173. The Underlying Motive

**173 - The Underlying Motive**

Pet rushed past the others, saying, "Follow me!"

Paul questioned behind his panting from running. "Do you know where you're going?"

"Yeah, away from here!"

The Kirbys and Udesky were a bit uncertain to follow, but Grant and Billy had no second thoughts. The two scientists stayed close to the woman. After a few minutes of running, most of the group was starting to slow down. They weren't quite used to running like Pet. Billy was the closest to being able to keep up with the hybrid's current pace. Thankfully she wasn't running her full speed and probably something closer to a jog for her.

They came to a stop, everyone either leaning against a tree or their knees to catch their breath. Pet kept her raptor like gaze outward should there be any movement from another predator if not the same one they had been trying to avoid.

Paul breathed out, "That was close." And laughed at their fortune of still being alive.

Grant, however, didn't find the situation amusing. He heaved a breath and straightened his posture. "We wouldn't have been in this situation had you people _listened when I said not to land the damn plane!_"

He balled up a fist and threw it at Paul, who stumbled backwards and into a vine entangled tree. Amanda rushed to intervene. "No, no! Please don't! Stop, please."

The senior scientist growled, "It's time you did some explaining, Mr. Kirby." He massaged his sore fist and glowered at the man, dazed and laying on the ground.

Pet grabbed at her fiancé's arm to prevent him from continuing his physical lashing. She knew it took _a lot_ to push the gentle spirited man to such an extreme breaking point and worried how much further he'd go if not held back. "Babe," she calmed, firming her grip. "Walk away. Just walk away."

Grant gave one last acidic glare to the grounded man and turned, walking away. Amanda helped Paul to this feet, the two looking to the other in silence. She nodded and he pressed his lips together beneath his mustache, nodding as well. He reached into his pocket to withdraw a dark brown leather wallet and flipped it open. He held it outwards for the scientist to take, but Pet took it instead knowing it best to keep some distance between the two people.

She took one look at it and squared her eyes down on Paul. "A kid?" Her eyes then darted between the two Kirbys. "I take it he's your son?"

Amanda nodded, Paul explaining. "His name is Eric and yes, he's our son. He's 12. He's always loved dinosaurs so Amanda and I thought it would be cool for him to actually see some by parasailing around the island. Little did we know..."

Pet handed the wallet to Grant, their eyes meeting. "Why is it, when shit hits the fan there's usually a kid involved somewhere?"

Grant rolled his eyes and shook his head when accepting the wallet to take a look at the picture himself. Paul continued to explain. "We called everyone. We did everything we could."

Pet cut in. "Doing everything you could would've been _not letting _the kid come down here in the first place!"

Grant passed the wallet to Billy, the younger man taking it as Paul rambled on. "No one would help us. The Costa Rican government said this is a no-fly zone. The U.S. Embassy, that's our U.S. Embassy, told us we should accept the inevitable. Can you believe that?"

Billy was completely thrown off by everything he was hearing. "You let a 12-year-old go parasailing alone?"

"No!" Paul barked out without hesitation.

Amanda spoke up defensively. "He wasn't alone. He was with a friend."

Paul nodded. "Ben Hildebrand."

Both of the Kirbys fell quiet for a moment, Amanda announcing, "Paul and I divorced over a year ago."

Pet snorted in annoyance and shook her head. "And here you told us this little excursion was for an anniversary. Lies. All lies. Was anything you told us _true_?"

"All right," Grant growled. "Why me?"

Paul took it upon himself to answer. "he said we needed someone who'd been on the island before."

"Yes," Udesky agreed, "But I did not tell you to kidnap somebody."

"I have never been on this island," Grant stated. He was getting the urge to hit Paul again and this time, he was almost certain Pet wouldn't stop him. Hell she might even help, judging by the look on her face.

Oblivious of the still impending threat Grant posed, Paul approached him. "Sure you have. You wrote that book."

Billy almost erupted in laugher at the other man's ignorance and bit out a smile. "That was Isla Nublar. This is Isla Sorna. Site B."

Udesky's eyes widened and jaw dropped in horror. "You mean there are two islands with dinosaurs on them?"

Both Paul and Amanda waved a dismissing hand at the co-pilot. "Stay out of this."

A still amused Billy looked to his infuriated mentor, shaking his head. Pet cut her eyes down on Udesky. "That's usually what site B means...a secondary location."

Grant waved a hand at the hybrid to silence her while directing his attention to the Kirbys. "How long have they been missing?"

Paul glanced backwards to Amanda. "Eight weeks."

The woman nodded. "Almost eight weeks."

"Shit," Pet sighed out. She ran her hands through her hair and mumbled to herself, "Why, why, why, why..." Her words trailed off as she began to pace around in a circle.

Grant looked to the woman and then to his protege. "Veronica, Billy...We'll go back to the plane, salvage what we can. Then we make for the coast."

The three people started to walk away, Paul not accepting what he was assuming to be their plan. Going to the coast? To what? Set up camp? "Dr. Grant, we're not leaving this island without our son."

Grant, Billy and Pet turned to glower at the other man, the senior scientist stating, "Then you can go and look for him. Or you can stick with us, as long as you don't hold us up. Either way," He grimly said, "You probably wont get off this island alive."

Paul and Amanda looked in dread to the other, already not liking how that last statement seemed to go along with them already being roughed up after a brutal first encounter with one of the island's titans.

Billy looked to Pet. "Do you remember your way around this place?"

The hybrid snorted a laugh. "Are you serious?"

"Well, I mean it has been a while since you were here last."

"Sweetie," Pet began, tilting her head and planting her hands on her hips. "I worked on this island, tracking and tagging dinosaurs from age 15 to 18. Then, only to turn around and live here _alone_ for another 4. So you tell me."

"I'm going to go with yes."

Pet smirked and nodded. "Stick with me, Boy Scout, and you'll earn your merit badge in Dino Survival." She turned to leave, Grant and Billy going with her.

Udesky visually examined the firm woman from head to toe in her passing, taking note of the rather odd but signature claws on her feet. Paul approached him, questioning. "So? What do we do?"

Udesky thought himself a decent survivalist, but knew the chances of surviving an island with dinosaurs was dismal should they split up. "We look for your son." He gave a brief backwards glance to the three people striding away, continuing. "In the direction they're going in."

"Excellent," answered Paul, him and Amanda being the first to chase after the others.

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**Once again, I'm hoping to get more content written and posted as soon as I can.**


	174. Spinosaurus Aegypticus

**174 - Spinosaurus Aegypticus**

"So..." began Paul, trying to keep his distance from Grant. Judging by the over the shoulder glare he received when rejoining him and his companions, there was still a level of hostility to be mindful of. "Do you think that...whatever it was...will come back?"

Pet answered. "As long as we remain quiet and not draw attention to ourselves, we should be fine."

"Wont it hear us walking? Even talking, like now?"

Billy snorted a laugh. "I think she meant calling out over a bullhorn when meaning drawing attention to ourselves. But if you think talking in regular voices will attract it then I guess you should be quiet then, hmm?"

Grant cracked a smile at his protégé. Hanging around Derek at the dig site, over the past 3 years, was beginning to rub off on him. Pet slowing in her steps made Grant and Billy come to a halt in theirs followed by the Kirbys and Udesky.

The hybrid spoke. "There's a chance the dinosaur might be at the crash site. After leaving an area known to produce a kill, a carnivore such as that might come back around for more. Stay here and I'll go scout out the area to see if its clear."

Grant gave another sour look to Paul and Amanda, half expecting either of the two to run off and or do something stupid. Pet hunkered down and wove throughout the foliage for cover the closer she got to the crash site. The residual smell of jet fuel let her know she was getting closer until finally the ravaged fuselage came into view. She didn't immediately see the finned dinosaur, but that didn't mean it wasn't sniffing and poking around somewhere nearby. She continued to search the area.

* * *

Amanda sighed in impatience. How much longer was this going to take? She crossed her arms over her chest and drummed her fingers against her arm. This was getting ridiculous. "Is she going to come back?"

The two scientists gave a questionable glance to the blond woman before looking to one another in mutual contemplation. Paul reassured the best he could. "I'm sure she will. She's just making sure everything is safe, first."

A couple minutes later, the rustling of bushes got the group's attention and they instantly ducked behind a tree should it be danger approaching. Of course, the tree wasn't quite large enough to hide all 5 of them causing Udesky to crawl under a series of ferns for cover. More rustling of leaves sounding closer revealed Pet, her pausing shy of where she remembered leaving the group to find them gone.

Then she saw Paul peek around the tree. "Let me tell you how bad you are at hiding," she stated.

Out from around the tree the others came, Grant sighing in relief. "We weren't sure what was coming towards us."

Pet stared at him, blinking. "Alan, if it was something dangerous you'd have known and trust me, hiding wouldn't have made a damn difference."

Paul spoke up. "You mean, like that big dinosaur?"

Billy replied. "Nah, something worse."

Paul's eyes widened. "There's something worse out there other than that thing?" He aimed a pointing hand back in the direction they had come from.

"Yeah...her." Billy gave a side nod to Pet, who wasn't amused.

"She doesn't seem so bad." As Paul looked the woman in mention up and down, Udesky couldn't stop staring at her questionable feet.

"You haven't dated her, either." A sharp slap on the shoulder from hybrid made the young scientist laugh to himself.

"Alright, you two," Grant cut in. "Knock it off."

The group followed the hybrid through the forest, her continuing her jabs at Billy. "Next time that thing comes back, I'm feeding you to it. Maybe then it'll leave us alone."

Billy snickered. "Just nag at it. That'll keep it away."

Grant shook his head. It was almost like having Derek around, except with less sexual innuendos, vulgar language and physical outbursts.

The group came upon the small clearing the plane had gone down in and stopped to visually take in the scene. That had just happened. From the being stuck in a tree, to crashing on the ground, being rolled several yards away and then followed by a towering carnivore had only happened just less than an hour ago. And they were still alive. Well, except for those who had been unfortunate to not survive.

Grant instructed. "Salvage only what you can carry. There's no telling how far we'll have to go, how long we'll be stuck here or even what we'll encounter so take only the essentials. Food, water and medical supplies are a must. Any other personal belongings like luggage will only slow us down."

With that, everyone split up to begin picking through the wreckage. Udesky made a beeline for the remnants of the cockpit only to stop in his tracks in disgust. Laying not too far away was what remained of Nash. The urge to be sick rose in his throat, but he managed to fight it back and turned his head away when proceeding forward.

Pet crawled into the fuselage to try and find what she could for salvaging in there. Along the way, she collected the bottles of water she had found and even one of her shoes. No telling where the other was. It was most likely laying about in a mud hole or somewhere else.

Outside and shy of where the fuselage originally fell from the tree, Grant found his back pack. Off to the side was Billy, knelt over his camera bag and assembling his camera for testing. Hopefully it still worked. It cost quite a bit of money and he hadn't had it for very long. Udesky was trying to salvage of what he could of the weaponry...had it not been bent or crushed.

Pet called out, "Ah hah," from with the aircraft remains and crawled out with a collection of items. She had her own backpack slung over a shoulder while carrying one of her boots in one hand and a machete in the other. "Hey Alan, look what I found!"

Udesky saw the item and pointed at it. "Hey, that was Nash's!"

"Not to mean any disrespect to the dead, but I doubt he'll be needing it anytime soon."

Grant approached her. "What all were you able to recover?"

Pet tugged at the draw strings to her pack and opened it. "Some bottles of water, a medical kit...or what was left of it anyway. It was back where the equipment was kept in the tail section and well..." She held up the remaining, broken white box with a red cross visible on the front. "It still has all its contents, just isn't in the best of conditions."

Billy could be heard calling out, "Hey Alan! Come check this out!"

Both Grant and Pet rushed to their friend, the man pausing in strides and back peddling to pick up his hat. The hybrid huffed a laugh and shook her head. They broke past the underbrush to join Billy. There, kneeling beside a large three toed foot print was Billy, the man busy taking pictures of his find.

Grant questioned. "What would you classify it, Billy?"

"Well," the junior scientist began. "Its a super predator." Both Grant and Pet crouched down to get a better look at the foot print while the senior scientist planted his hat back on his head. "A Suchomimus. That snout."

Grant shook his head. He knew were his protégé was going with his guessing. "No, think bigger."

"Baryonyx?"

Good guess, but no. "Not with that sail." The older man held up a large tooth he had found when doing his own supply salvaging. "Spinosaurus aegypticus."

Billy took the tooth from his mentor's hand to study it himself. Just looking at the size comparison of the tooth versus his hand made him feel that much more smaller. "I don't remember that on InGen's list."

"Because it wasn't on their list." Grant took back the tooth. "And it makes you wonder what else they were up to."

Pet piped up. "Or Masrani Corporation. Technically, all this belongs to Simon Masrani since he bought up InGen. There's no telling what's been going on, down here, since he took over everything."

Grant heaved "Great" in a sigh. Not what he was wanting to hear.

The three sat there for a couple seconds to let the thought of what else could be out there sink into their heads. And they were stranded here. The more they sat there, the more their attention was reverted to movement in the corner of their eyes. At first it took a moment to register just what they were seeing. Paul Kirby, a grown man, was having trouble putting on a backpack. He was spinning around in circles where he stood trying to get the second strap.

The scene reminded Pet of a dog chasing its tail. She arched a brow. "Is he really..."

Billy nodded his head. "Yeah."

"How?"

"I have no idea. For someone who's supposed to be an experienced explorer, I'm not so sure about this guy."

The hybrid snorted. "More like a _self proclaimed_ experienced explorer. He's already lied about his intentions on coming to the island. What else has he lied about?"

The three people got to their feet, Billy suggesting, "How about we find out?"

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**If only I could stop writing on post JP3 content, I would be further than where I am. But after watching Jurassic World 3 times, my mind is stuck on writing events following JP3 and leading up to JW.**


	175. All That Remains in a Tree

**175 - All That Remains in a Tree**

Grant was livid. So much that even Pet chose it best to linger behind the man, a bit, when resuming their journeying through the forest. Not that she could blame him. She was pretty upset, too. Seemed like more and more they were chipping away at the layers of lies they had been told to unveil the real reasons for the trip. And now, they had finally broken away that last bit to fully uncover everything. Paul Kirby. The boastful, wealthy entrepreneur was merely a small business owner with barely a dime to his name. Figures.

As Grant so wisely put it, they weren't even getting paid for being in such a bad situation. Pet frowned and looked over to Billy, wearing a similar expression. The junior scientist quietly asked the woman. "You think we'll get out of this alive?"

Pet shrugged. "Its possible."

"And what about that kid? What are the chances of him still being alive?"

"If he's smart, probable. I survived the island alone for four years."

Billy casually glanced around to make sure their conversation wasn't being over heard. "Yeah, but you also had a lot more experience around these animals as well as tons of survival tactics. This is a 12 year old boy who hasn't seen a real dinosaur before and most likely has never been left alone in the wild." The two people met skeptical expressions. "Just saying."

Pet had to agree, though not out loud. She only heaved an exhalation and adjusted her pack straps on her shoulders. Stumbling around through the undergrowth not too far away were the Kirbys, arguing amongst themselves.

Udesky quickened his pace to match Billy's and Pet's and stated, "If we split up, I'm going with you guys."

Once they rounded a series of trees, the stranded group saw something ahead that looked a bit peculiar. Something red and white dangled from a series of tree limbs. Kirby pushed his way past Grant to get a better look. "What's that?"

Udesky shrugged in answering. "Beats me."

Pet sprinted past the group and past Amanda to arrive at the site first. "Its a parachute! And it looks to be fairly recent, too."

Amanda and Paul ran to join the hybrid and saw the item in question. Panic filled the two parents' minds as worst case scenarios flooded their minds. How did a parachute from the coast get this far in to the mainland, only to end up stuck in a tree? Surely a parachute wouldn't be able to navigate this far. Did something, perhaps, grab it and drag it in? Say like, some big flying dinosaur? After all, it was stated that the big finned dinosaur wasn't a part of the company's original species list, leaving to question what else could be out roaming about.

Both Paul and Amanda began calling out, "Eric!"

It took both Grant and Pet demanding the two people quiet their shouting before both finally stopped. As dire as the situation was, Grant was quick to come to terms with the reality of it all. "Mrs. Kirby, the chances are remote they're still in the vicinity."

Pet bit back her true thoughts in exchange for something a bit comforting for the two worried people's sake. Despite her strongly disliking the Kirbys, she still understood this was their son in question and could easily sense and smell their levels of distress. That was, if it wasn't for that lingering stench of something dead and rotting nearby. Hopefully the others didn't smell it. That would be bad.

"That doesn't mean the chances of them being alive is slim." Pet forced out an uncertain smile and shrugged.

Udesky knelt down beside a cam-corder half exposed in some bushes and called out. "Hey guys!"

Paul and Amanda scampered over to join him, Grant and Billy looking to Pet. The latter looked to the hybrid. "Well, do you still think they survived now?"

"Look, Mr. Pessimistic...A tangled up parachute in a tree doesn't mean the worst of fates for anyone. Although that smell of something dead and rotting brings to question what's causing it..."

Grant shook his head and continued to examine the parachute, wondering the likelihood of it being salvageable. He was about to ask Billy when the sounds of a recording playing got his attention. The three people turned to see Udesky and the Kirbys huddled around the video camera, watching it.

Out of curiosity, Billy and Grant joined the others while Pet began to climb the tree in an effort to untangle the parachute chords. Good thing she had that machete as she put it to use, chopping vines and side branches to free up some of the cords.

Pet straddled a limb and began scooting across it to where a section of the parachute was snagged. She used the very tip of the machete to help her reach out further and lift the fabric over a broken twig. She called out. "Hey guys... a little help?" They were too occupied in watching the video. "Whatever," she sighed out and continued to work.

As for the Kirbys, they barely blinked when watching the video. Seeing the two people land in the tree, alive and well, brought relief to Paul. At least they weren't carried off by some big flying dinosaur, as he originally thought.

For Grant and Billy, they had seen enough. Not to mention Pet's calling out for assistance was becoming a bit bothersome. "I've almost got this thing un-snagged. Now if someone can just tug on it a bit to help get it out of this damn tree, that'd be great."

Grant looked from the hybrid and to the parachute as his questioned his protégé. "Can you fly one of those?"

Billy shrugged. "Maybe. As long as the sails not torn."

"Well, let's take it. Nica is already cutting it down, so why not?" The senior scientist reached up to grab a section of it. "If we spot a plane, it might be a good way to get attention."

The two men began tugging on the parachute, Pet's eyes widening in horror when seeing the source of the horrific smell. "Guys, wait, wait, _wait!_" Too late.

A limb cracked and with it, the remains of what Pet could only guess was the adult sent with the boy on their trip. Down from the branches it swung and right into Amanda. The woman began screaming and flailing her arms about which only caused her to get tangled up in the parachute lines attached to the harness strapped around the body's remains.

It took Grant, Paul and Udesky to free the woman. Once she was finally free, she hysterically ran off, screaming into the forest. "Get her back, Mr. Kirby!" Grant pointed at the fleeing woman, his enraged blue eyes on the other man.

Pet shook her head. What a real piece of work, that woman. A tug of the parachute wiggled the branch Pet was seated on and she resumed helping the others free the object. She cut a small branch out of the way, finally allowing a portion of the strings to break loose. The harness and body fell to the ground, Grant's nostrils filling with the putrid stench. He gagged and tried to wave the smell away from his face, but it seemed to only make it worse.

Billy, himself, choked out a gag and tried to hold his breath while unfastening the harness from around the carcass. Grant had to walk away. The smell of decay was too much for him. Pet saw this and sheathed the machete back in its scabbard she had attached to her belt. She began to crawl down the tree and once close enough to the ground, leapt down.

By now, Billy and Udesky had the parachute completely removed from the tree and were laying it out on the ground to fold back up. Pet read the bold, black lettering across the top of the sail. "Dino-Soar. How appropriate."

Udesky furrowed his brow at the woman. "Sarcastic much?"

"Pfft." She and Grant knelt down to help the others. She helped straightened out the cords while the men folded the fabric as neatly as possible. "Do you even know what you're doing?" She looked to Billy.

"Yeah." He laughed out in answer. "This isn't my first time folding a parachute."

"Well look at that. The Boy Scout comes into use!"

Billy huffed a laugh, Udesky even more confused when looking to the junior scientist. "Why does she keep calling you Boy Scout?"

"Long story."

Off in the distance, Paul could be heard yelling, "Dr. Grant! You should come look at this!"

The paleontologist rose to his feet. What now? What had the Kirbys possibly gotten themselves into _this time_? He looked to Pet and walked away, Udesky following.

Pet chose to stay with Billy and help him in folding the parachute, never mind her curiosity tearing away at her insides. She looked to her friend. "What do you think they found?"

Billy shrugged. "No idea. Come on, help me get this thing folded and packed away. I want to go see, myself."


	176. Something In The Air

**176 - Something In The Air**

Oh shit. That was the only thing in Pet's mind when seeing what it was the Kirbys had stumbled across. Nests full of un-hatched eggs and all of them unoccupied by the dinosaur pack the nests belonged to. Grant's unblinking gaze looked up from the many eggs and to the equally shaken hybrid.

"Veronica..." His voice was shaky. "Are these..."

"Velociraptor." Pet nodded. "Yeah."

"That's what I thought." Grant tried to keep himself composed.

As if things couldn't get any worse, they had found themselves in a raptor's nest. If there was ever a time he could beat Paul Kirby into a pulp, it would be now. Never mind the not listening and landing on the island...or that damned woman attracting the Spinosaur...all of this was because of that _damned man_!

Grant didn't bother waiting for the others when muttering to himself, "We need to get out of here," while briskly striding away. "The alpha and the rest of the pack can't be too far away. They'll know we've been here...they'll smell our scent." His abruptly stopping in his tracks caused Pet to accidently walk into him. "They wont follow us, will they?"

The hybrid met the man's wide, panicked eyes. "Not without provocation, no. That is, if we leave the immediate area before they get back. Now, if they catch us here then we're fucked."

"Right." Grant was back to briskly striding away.

The rest of the group continued to follow, being mindful of where they stepped when trying to keep up with the scientist. Grant was so focused on hauling it as fast as he could away from the nests that he didn't bother to make sure everyone was accounted for. That was, until he noticed his protégé was no where to be found.

Again, he stopped in his tracks and stared motionlessly in the direction they had just come from. "Where's Billy?"

Should he go back? _Could he_ go back? He remembered all too well what it was like being face to face with a raptor and had no intentions of being caught present in one of their nests. Before he knew what he was doing, he was following Pet, charging mindlessly through the underbrush, to where the nests were.

Billy emerged from the undergrowth while zipping up his camera bag. "What are you doing?" Grant scolded. He sounded more like a worried father for his son than an employer to his assistant.

The younger man zipped up the rest of his camera bag and nervously smiled to the two panicked people. "I was photographing the nest."

"Don't do that again." Grant released a breath he had unknowingly been holding.

"I'm sorry." Billy laughed and darted his eyes between both of his friends. There was something in Pet's eyes he didn't feel comfortable with. Or was it that he didn't feel comfortable with her ability to sense unease?

Grant turned on a heel and started to walk away. "If I loose you, its just me and the damn tourists."

Pet hesitated to follow, her squaring her eyes down on Billy. "You alright?" She questioned, nostrils flaring for a brief moment. "You seem a bit tense."

"Yeah, yeah." The junior scientist laughed again. "Just a little shaken up at walking into a raptor nest."

"And yet you lingered..." Billy gulped the knot in his throat. "Come on..." Pet gave him a final, intense gawk before turning to follow Grant. "We need to get out of here."

* * *

The group walked on, following the hybrid through the forest. They trusted she knew where she was going, seeing how she did say she knew her way around the island after all. But the walk felt endless.

Amanda piped up. "Any clue as to where we're going?"

Pet didn't answer the woman's upteenth time at asking the same repetitive question. It was almost like traveling with a child, constantly asking if they were there yet. A rustling of something in the distance got Pet's attention and she halted in her tracks to look behind the group. She squinted her eyes and cocked her head upwards as though trying to listen in or smell for something abnormal.

Grant gave his own inquiring mind a backwards glance, but saw nothing. "...Nica..." A hiss of a snort came in reply. "What is it?"

After another slow passing, visual examination of the area the hybrid replied. "I thought I heard something. It was probably a Compy or few running around in the bushes. We probably picked some up along the way."

Kirby questioned. "Few?" He instantly started looking around anxiously.

"Not to worry, though. Compy, or Compsonathus, is a chicken sized dinosaur. Basically harmless if just the one, but after about 12 or so they can be a hazard." Pet looked to Paul and cocked a malicious smile. "On this island, Mr. Kirby, the chicken tends to bite back."

The man kept his attention amongst the bushes where the woman had been looking, not noticing the group walking off without him. When he saw the others roughly 25 feet away, he yelped and ran to catch up. No way was he about to be the meal, tonight.

The six people hadn't traveled far when they came across an underlying mountain pass where a decent sized facility sat nestled in the middle. Paul's eyes widened in hope. "I bet you Eric is in there. Don't you think? I bet my bottom dollar."

Billy questioned to Pet. "What do you think it is?"

Udesky took it upon himself to answer. "As far as I'm concerned, its the Four Seasons."

"Hardly," Pet barked. "Try the Embryonics Lab."

Amanda was next to question. "Its not dangerous, is it?"

"Lady, you're on an island with free roaming dinosaurs and you're worried about a dilapidated building?"

Pet scoffed and shook her head. But it was a valid worry. As far as Pet knew, it wasn't dangerous. Though they were on the edge of raptor territory, this was a site they tended to stay clear of. She still kept her guard up, nonetheless. Something didn't feel right in the air and she didn't like it.


	177. Blast From The Past

**177 - Blast From The Past**

Striding through the outside ruins of the facility was like a nightmarish walk through a ghost town. It was even enough to make the hairs on Pet's arms and back of the neck stand on end and she didn't spook too easily. Perhaps it was the bountiful supply of memories she had from her teenage years and the fact that she was back after so long that haunted her.

Billy looked around at the long abandoned vehicles and the sign reading InGen. "You used to work here?"

Pet nodded. "Yeah. Robert and I used to frequent this area quite a bit back in the day."

Everyone went into the central building and began looking around. Paul yelled, "Eric!" He just knew his son was in this place and no one could tell him otherwise.

Amanda bit out, "Paul, don't!"

Pet hissed a snort in her passing by the man and flexed her hands' grip around the shoulder straps of her backpack. "Haven't you learned, by now, what yelling out loud tends to do? Or shall I go get that bullhorn, instead?"

Grant glowered at the woman. "Knock it off, Veronica."

But Paul wasn't listening. His eyes were set on a new target; a phone sitting on the semi circle shaped front desk. Everyone traced his eyes to it, Pet laughing to herself. "For crying out loud. Seriously?"

Amanda ignored the hybrid. "What the hell." And she stepped over to it to pick it up. Dead.

"What did you expect? A dial tone? This place has been abandoned for almost a decade." Pet scoffed a laugh. "Shits broke."

She walked off and towards a hall way she remembered all too well. It felt almost like yesterday that she was walking these halls when brand new. She could still remember the smell of the paint drying on the walls. A series of vending machines lined against a wall greeted everyone's view, reminding them of when the last time they ate was.

Paul started shifting around in his pocket, pleased for the first time to hear change rattle back. Just not the type of change he was wanting. Nickels, dimes, couple pennies and some crumbled up dollar bills filled the palm of his hand. "Who's got some change? It only takes quarters."

Pet buried her face in Grant's shoulder. "Tell me this clown is joking."

Grant could've given himself a concussion from face palming at the situation. Billy knew better and instead, chose to break the glass of one of the machines by kicking it the hardest he could. All he had to do was take that sudden urge to hit Paul and assert that to a nice, good kick instead. Now to reap the rewards of years old melted candy and stale chips.

Pet got excited. "Oh, oh can you grab me a bag of those peanut candies?" Suddenly aware of how childish and girly she sounded, she brought her hands to her mouth. "They were always my favorite," she squeaked past a couple fingers.

Billy smiled and reached for the requested bag. He then went to his friends and distributed what he had gathered, leaving Paul standing and staring at the machine in disbelief. Pet ripped open the bag and giggled to herself. Grant cocked a smile. "You do know those will probably taste nothing like they should."

"Eh, I don't care. I've eaten worse."

"I don't want to know." He then gestured down the hallway. "You know this place better than anyone else, here, so lead the way."

Pet popped a couple pieces of old candy in her mouth and grimaced at the bad taste. "Ugh."

Swallowing for the sake of needing something on her stomach, the hybrid went down the hallway. It opened up to a large, gymnasium sized laboratory looking more like a warehouse than anything. Catwalks wove overhead of the floor level, where large vats and other equipment resided. Pet stood there by the railing, rolling a bite of candy around in her mouth.

A prominent memory played out in her head as though happening all over again. A juvenile Gallimimus had gotten loose and was running amok through the lab, Muldoon yelling for scientists to move. That memory was quickly replaced by sadness and she hung her head low. Grant proceeded down the stairwell, followed by Amanda and the rest of the group. After a couple minutes, Pet joined.

Amanda reached for a cracked shell still laying in an incubator. "This is how you make dinosaurs?"

"No," Grant solemnly answered. "This is how you play God." His eyes met Pet's, the hybrid snorting in annoyance.

A flash from Billy's camera highlighted a small, dinosaur specimen floating in a vat filled with a murky, blue water. Pet clenched her jaw in anger and balled her fists at her side. So many things about that scene bothered her. Not just because it was a baby dinosaur dead because of man, but because she knew she was created much the same way. And it sickened her.

Her eyes started to glaze over and a single tear streamed down her dirt splotched face. Grant saw this and closed the distance between them. "Babe? Are you alright?"

For some reason, frequenting this exact same building all those years ago didn't have the same impact it did on her at that moment. "I was created much the same way as that baby dino, Alan." She met his sympathetic eyes and hissed another snort.

He drew her in for a comforting hug and kissed her on the top of her head. "I'm sorry, we shouldn't have come in here."

"No, its fine." Pet wiped at her eyes. "It was worth investigating, should the boy have been here." She gave the man an attempted smile. "I'll be fine."

"Let's just hurry up and get out of-" Amanda screaming stopped Grant in mid sentence, everyone stopping in what they were doing to see what was wrong.

Something was trying to attack Amanda. Pet's eyes widened. "Shit, its a raptor!"

Grant bellowed, "_RUN!_"

Pet drug the man behind her. "This way! This way!" The 5 people followed her and into what looked to be an animal kennel.

Down a couple turns and to a dead end they came, Paul trying a cage's lock. "Its locked!"

Billy blurted, "Some idea this was."

"Shove it," Pet chided.

It was Grant's turn to grab a hold of Pet when shoving her into a pen. "This way, this way! Go, go!" Udesky and Paul joined the other two in one pen while Billy and Amanda went to another.

They tried to close the gate only to fail when the raptor pushed it open. It was taking everything Billy and Amanda had to keep the gate closed as much as they were. Had it not been for the wet and slippery floor, it would've been a lot better to get the traction needed to _not_ slide backwards in their efforts.

Pet broke out of Grant's grasp to go help the other two, but he wasn't about to be stopped that easily. He wrapped his arms around her upper body, growling into her ear, "I'm not going to let you go that easily, Veronica!"

"I can help them, Alan! Let me go!" She snorted and shrieked, but he still wasn't letting go.

Udesky called out, "Hey, over here!" He began rattling the pen's caging, hoping to get the attention of the attacking dinosaur.

That's when the raptor stopped its clawing at the pen cell door to look upwards to an opening that would lead straight to its prey. Amanda yelled, "Push! Push!" Between her and Billy, they were able to push the door and latch it against another cell's caging, thus trapping the raptor.

It didn't take long for the frantic people to flee the scene, Grant pausing in his running to observe the desperately squawking raptor. Pet ran up to him. "Alan, what are you doing? Come on!"

"My God. He's calling for help."

"We're going to be calling for help, too, if you don't move your ass!"

Paul joined the hybrid to help urge the scientist. "Come on!"

Grant knew the hybrid was right and allowed himself to be drug away from his observing. They exited the pens and retraced their steps back outside in record time. They went into a section of the forest, soon coming out the other side an into a field.

Grant yelled to the others, "Into the heard!"

Parasaurolophus and Corythosaurus of different sizes became startled at the intruding group, causing a chain reaction resulting in an eventual stampede. Because this didn't bring back memories to Grant when running through a startled pack of Gallimimus.

Pet snorted and yelled out to Grant. "So help me if you make _one _comment about these bastards flocking, I'll beat your ass!"

Everyone was trying their best to not get trampled, Billy loosing his footing and falling to the ground. He didn't take much time getting back up, though. He quickly realized he had dropped his camera bag and debated on going back for it, but knew doing so would probably result in getting ran over by a dinosaur or attacked by a raptor. Luckily for him, his mentor found the treasured item amongst the grass and picked it up.

Pet exclaimed, "We need to get to higher ground!"

Grant frenetically looked around to see the field surrounded by trees. "Get to the trees!" He and Pet went one way while the others ran a little further ahead, none of which intending to split up.


	178. Separation Anxiety

**178 - Separation Anxiety**

Paul, Amanda and Billy managed to get to safe ground in a tree, Udesky not so fortunate. In trying to find the others and follow, he found himself face to face with a raptor. His painful cries echoed the air and landed on Pet's distant ears.

Her and Grant had managed to stay close together, but where were the rest? "That was Udesky!" Pet briefly stopped running, but the man's tight grip around her wrist tugged her to follow. "It sounded like it came from over there! Maybe that's where the others are!"

Grant nodded in agreement. "Come on! We need to stay together!" The two bounded through the tall shrubbery and thigh high grass before Pet stopped them both. She grabbed the man by his back pack and yanked him to the ground. "What the-"

The hybrid's clawed hand over the man's mouth seized his words. "Shhh..." She gestured with her hand to stay low and poked her head up enough to see one raptor approach another. Grant eyes met the hybrid's as she mouthed, "You're welcome."

The two raptors barking and squawking got the man's attention and he returned his watch back onto the animals. One was a male and the other a female, him wonder if these were the alpha male and female of the pack. "What are you saying? What are you looking for?" He kept his eyes on the raptors when questioning the woman laying next to him in the grass. "Nica? Can you tell what's going on?"

"Yeah. They're pissed."

"Is this because of the nest? You said they wouldn't follow us without provocation."

"I think they're following us because of me." Both people looked to the other in dread. "They probably smelt the traces of raptor in me at the nest and thought it was another raptor from outside the pack hunting their eggs."

"Son of a bitch." Pet grimaced in extreme sympathy.

"I'm sorry Alan, I-"

The raptors ran off and in seeing an opportunity to get out of there, Grant grabbed the hybrid off the ground. They scampered behind a tree, the man studying the hybrid. "The screams sounded from that direction, right?" Pet nodded. "Then that's the direction we're going to run in."

"Okay."

Grant stood up, with the intentions of running as soon as everything looked clear, only to find it wasn't. A raptor had found them from either their scent or them talking. Pet jerked Grant back and stood in front of him as though to shield him and protect him against the raptor. She knew this was probably going to end badly, but she didn't care.

The two people started backing up to put distance between them and the raptor, Pet hoping it didn't call for others to join. If it was just that one, she could probably fight it off though it'd been a while since she done something of the sort.

Footsteps running towards them caused Grant's head to jerk over to the side. A second raptor. "Veronica..."

"I know." There was a growl to Pet's voice that slightly unnerved the scientist

They troubled people continued to back up, but another hissing growl from behind them stopped them in their tracks. Grant spun around to find a third raptor. The man spoke low to the hybrid. "Please tell me you have a plan to get us out of this."

"They're challenging us." A raptor hissed a growl at her and Pet returned the action by hissing her own screech.

That was when a fourth raptor arrived. This one was a female. "Veronica..."

Pet glanced over her shoulder to see the female and grabbed Grant's arm to pull him closer to her as she tried to protect him the best she could. But at that moment, judging by the pitch in the four raptors' squawking, there was no getting out of this alive.

The hybrid was genuinely afraid and the raptors could sense that. One of the males stepped closer to her, but Pet screeched out and lunged forward just a bit to startle it. The female hissed a bark and the male stepped back from the others.

Grant was scared out of his damn mind at that point and yet here he was, fascinated at the interaction between the woman and the raptors. He questioned to her. "What's going on?"

"Its just as I suspected. They smelled us at the nest and followed us. More like, followed me because of what I am." She barked a growl at another male approaching them. "So now they're challenging us."

A sound from off to the side hit Pet's sense of hearing before a canister spewing smoke landed a couple feet shy of where she and Grant were standing. A smoke grenade and with tear gas no less. But who the hell tossed a smoke grenade? It had to be the others. Billy and the Kirbys. Paul must've found and salvaged some from the aircraft wreckage and had them in his backpack. Finally the son of a bitch did something right. A second and third can joined the first, filling the air with white smoke.

It stung Pet's eyes and burned her throat. She coughed out, "Cover your mouth," as she tried to do the same. She screeched out and squeezed her eyes shut.

As for Grant, he couldn't stop coughing and tried to see if the raptors had fled the area. Of course, trying to see anything behind eyes full of tears made things difficult, too. A hand took hold of his and he felt himself be drug off and out of the smoke filled area. He wasn't sure where he was being drug off to, but at that moment didn't really care. As long as it was away from the raptors and the tear gas. He trusted the hybrid's judgment on where to flee to.

But wait, that wasn't her. Grant could barely make out any definition of the figure pulling him along. He pulled his hand away from the other, still running ahead. He was being left behind, now and he coughed out to the other, "Wait!" He trudged after the figure, inadvertently tripping over a tree limb and crashing to the ground.

"Come on," the figure stated when hastily pulling him back to his feet.

Grant heard the voice and easily identified it as belonging to a boy. A boy? Eric? Eric Kirby? He survived?! The man had to be quite honest with himself, he didn't think the boy still alive. He was back to being drug off.

Grant choked out, "Wait...where's Veronica?"

"We have to keep moving. The raptors could come back. We have to get to safety."

"Veronica?" After all the times he had yelled at the Kirbys for shouting and possibly drawing unwanted visitation from a dinosaur, now he was doing it. He was understanding the importance of finding that loved one. "_Veronica!_"

* * *

Pet stumbled through the shrubbery of the forest floor, eyes watering and nose running. She had taken off her shirt, leaving her in her sports bra, and was using it to keep her face covered. It provided at least a little protection, but it still burned to breathe. She wasn't sure where she was going. For all she knew, she was stumbling into a pack of raptors waiting for her and Grant.

The hybrid stopped in her tracks, eyes wide in realization. "Alan?" She frantically started looking around her in hopes of the man nearby. But he wasn't. Everything in the woman locked up. Her heart skipped a bit and a sickening feeling settled into her stomach. She thought he was behind her. She just knew he was behind her. "_Alan?_" Having no choice, she ran back in the direction she had just come from, the smoke from the grenades starting to dissipate.

The lingering smoke still burned, though not as bad, and she was at least able to focus on the area a little bit better. That was, when she wasn't crying in both fear and from the residual gas stinging her eyes. He was no where. No where in the area at all. No traces of him, nothing. As much as he wanted to leave the scene in exchange for fresh air, she wouldn't leave. She had to calm herself and think. She couldn't think with all the stressors weighing down on her.

Pet began to recall what Muldoon had trained her when undergoing one of his trainings. She remembered one of them being with tear gas and what to do to overcome being incapacitated by it. The training was torturous, but as he explained and stressed, something necessary should gas grenades need to be used for any dire situation at the zoo. She closed her eyes, more like squeezed them shut, to give her a moment to recover from the stinging.

In her gathering her composure, she could almost hear her best friend and guardian's voice recalling the instructions. _"Remain calm. Keep a steady mind. Remain focused. What is it you're wanting to do? What or who are you trying to find? A way out? A certain person? Maybe an animal to help contain it. Know this and remember it. To hell with the pain. Ignore it. Your pain now, could mean their gain later. A person's life could be on the line and you're weak and crying over 'it hurts'."_

Pet screeched out in rage and slammed a clawed hand on the ground. She opened her eyes and looked around, forcing them open despite the agonizing burn of the gas tearing at them. As she tried to keep her eyes mostly open, she would squeeze them in a brief blink to refocus. Footprints were next to her hand. She recognized hers and what was safely assumed as Grant's. But there was a third.

Pet hoarsely barked. The foot prints were messy. The owner was in a hurry. She scurried over to the smaller prints, looking as though a child's, and noticed how Grant's went in the same direction. Someone had grabbed him. A child. Eric? Pet's head snapped upwards into the forest growth where the prints disappeared and took off running towards. Her running was more like stumbling. She tried to smell the air for traces of a person's scent, but couldn't smell a damn thing. Every inhalation she took burned her nasal cavity, throat and lungs. Because this just didn't completely suck! She kept sniffing the air, coughing every time. She had to find him.


	179. Alive and Well

**179 - Alive and Well**

Eric stared mesmerized at the man he had just rescued and brought back to the safety of his hideout. "You're Alan Grant." The man nodded, staring just as awe struck at the boy but for different reasons. This kid was still alive. "What are you doing here?"

How could he put this without making his parents sound like kidnapping, lying low life- "Your parents...Invited me along." Grant broke out into another coughing fit and waited for it to pass before continuing. "There was a woman with me...Did you see her?"

It took a moment for Eric to recall there being someone accompanying the renowned scientist. "For a moment."

"I need to find her." The man tried to stand, but fell back down to where he had been sitting.

Eric frowned. He knew it was dangerous going out there and wasn't sure what else to use as a means of defense should they encounter another pack of dinosaurs. Or one rather large one with a fin. "Stay here. I'll try to find her." He picked up his crudely crafted, grass camouflage cover and got up to go outside.

Grant mustered everything he could to join the boy. Like hell he was just going to sit there. She was his responsibility and not just because she was his fiancé. Years ago he promised John Hammond that he would watch out for her as long as she was a resident of his dig site. That and well, he promised Muldoon he'd do whatever it took to protect her and see she returned safely after their trip. Something about the way the ex-game warden said 'You had better, or don't bother coming back,' made the senior scientist not want to try the real meaning behind those words. Robert Muldoon was a respectable person, but Grant had no desire to encounter the wrathful side of him.

The two people crawled out of the wrecked fuel tanker and were on their way crossing the water sodden crate bridge when Grant heard a woman's voice call out, "Alan!"

"Nica," he whispered to himself and almost knocked over Eric when leaping to the last crate to reach land. He ran towards the voice just as she became visible beyond the tree line. "Nica!"

Pet's knees almost gave way when seeing the man and she ran to him, knocking the air out of his lungs on impact. She tightly embraced him in the hug, crying into his shoulder in relief. "I thought something had happened to you! Are you alright?" She backed away from the man, without letting him go, to give him a visual examination.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Are you?" Grant saw a scratch on the woman's face as well as a bit of a scrape on her left shoulder. "What happened?"

"I fell." She coughed and tightly held one of her sides. "Lesson learned, never run when you can barely see where you're going. Good thing that root broke my fall."

Sarcasm. She always had to be so sarcastic. Whatever. She was alive and well and that was all that mattered. Eric spoke up. "Uh, guys...we need to get back to the shelter before we're found by something."

Pet, leaning against her knees for support, wheezed to Grant. "Is this Eric?"

The man nodded. "Yes, it is."

"I'll be damned." Pet strode around Grant, Eric able to get his first good head to toe look over of the woman.

He appeared so though he had just seen a T-Rex or a Spino. His eyes widened in horror and the color wash from his face. He had seen plenty of raptors since his being on the island and knew what they were capable of. And yet, here was a woman? with raptor claws? No, raptor feet! Her eyes...

"What..." Eric took a step back in recoil, Pet stopping. "What are you?"

Pet sighed only to start coughing again. Grant took a gentle hold of the woman's upper arm to guide her to the fuel truck. "I'll explain inside."

* * *

While Grant and Pet explained her being to Eric, the boy opened up a large can of baked beans and started dividing it into bowls. Well, what bowls he could. He only had two. "Uh, sorry to interrupt but there's only two bowls..." Eric then looked to his selection of silverware. "And one spoon and two forks." He held up one of them. "One and a half forks, away."

"I don't care," Grant sighed out. "You and Veronica can have the bowls. I don't mind eating out of the can."

"Oh, okay then." Eric dropped the spoon into the can and handed it to the much older man, him taking one of the bowls and handing it to the odd woman. Before he could hand her the decent fork, she was tipping up the bowl and eating it that way. "That works, I guess."

Grant continued to explain things to Eric, but the ache of hunger and the satisfaction of food halted him. Neither he or Pet said much of anything while getting every last bean and flavor of from their respective dish and can.

Eric had been considerate to his guests and chose to give them a more generous helping of the beans. Because of, he had finished his share first. Afterwards, he started going through a box. He knew there had to be one somewhere, but where was it. Not in that box...Not there or...Ah hah! The last candy bar.

He took a smaller box from a shelf and walked around where the two people sat, finishing up their meal. Eric sat down and shifted his eyes between the two people, finally settling his gaze on Grant. "I read both of your books. I liked the first one more." He took a bite out of the candy bar. "Before you were on the island. You liked dinosaurs back then."

The scientist looked to Pet, sitting at his feet, and sighed. Was this kid really wanting to discuss this now? "Back then, they hadn't tried to eat me yet."

Pet snickered and patted the man on his booted foot. Grant tossed the spoon back into the bean can and looked around for a place to set it down. All around were shelves and stacks of items ranging from boxes, vials, cords, lamps and who knew what else.

Eric watched the man study the stuff. "When InGen cleared out, they left a lot of stuff behind."

Grant briefly looked to the unsuspecting hybrid and then back up to Eric. "Any weapons?" After spending as much time as he had with Pet and her gun happy pals, he felt a lot more confident in his ability to fire a gun.

The boy shook his head. "No, and I just used the last of the gas grenades."

"And I appreciate that."

Pet tossed her plastic bowl aside, swallowing the last bite of beans. "Who needs a weapon? I think I can handle myself fairly efficiently."

"Even if against four raptors?" Pet was quiet. Grant reached over to a vial, curious of its murky contents.

"Be careful with that. T-Rex. It scares the smaller ones away, but that attracts the really big one with the fin."

Um, what? What this what he thought it was? "This is T-Rex...pee?" Eric nodded a bit. "How'd you get it?"

"You don't want to know."

Grant blinked in disbelief at the kid, Pet look mildly disgusted. "Wait a minute, wait a minute...Tyrannosaurs, bucks especially...they..." Eric shrugged and nodded. "Like, all over the place and you..." The hybrid buried her face in her hands. "Bad mental image...bad mental image. I bet you attracted the Spinosaur for a couple days after that."

"It did. It kept following me. It took a lot of soap and finally a degreaser to get the smell off me."

Grant was mortified. Okay, change of subject.

* * *

Daylight became darker, night time on the horizon. Billy sat a bit uncomfortably on the tree limb he had been perched on and wiped at his eyes. Two of his best friends were somewhere down there and hopefully not dead. A grim reminder of a worst case scenario lie just beneath the tree branches he and the Kirbys occupied in the form of a since dead Udesky. His lifeless body hadn't been touched since one of the raptors broke his neck.

Billy had underestimated the level of intelligence the raptors had. He had heard plenty of stories from his mentor, Pet and Muldoon but thought it all an exaggeration. Such was not the case. A clever trap had been laid and it almost worked. And then, on top of having the ability to lay out such a trap, the raptors even knew how to break necks. Oh yeah, he definitely underestimated them.

He sat there, deeply regretting the stupid ass move he pulled earlier. Though regretful of loosing his camera bag, a part of him was thankful it was gone. He could almost visualize it laying in the tall grass of the field, probably trampled on by the stampedes of dinosaurs. Good riddance. He'd just have to find another way to help make money.


	180. Good News and Bad News

**180 - Good News and Bad News**

Simon Masrani stared off into space, his eyes unblinking. In one of his hands was an expensive pen he kept mindlessly tapping on his office desk's top. It was only 10:30 in the morning, though it felt much later. He had been so consumed in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed how hungry he was.

The phone on his desk rang several times before Simon acknowledged the offensive object with a roll of his eyes. He blinked at it, suddenly aware of how dry he eyes had become. They felt as though someone had dumped bags of sand in them. Exasperatingly, he reached over and picked it up.

"Yes?" What an unprofessional way to answer. He already knew it was most likely his secretary so why bother putting on a show?

A timid woman's voice answered. "My apologies, sir, I knew you requested to not be bothered but the U.S. Embassy called two times this morning and now, the Costa Rican government is contacting us."

Simon grumbled and rubbed at his eyes. "What now? Is this about that missing person incident? As I told them, the islands are private property and anyone trespassing on said territory is-"

"Sir," the woman's voice squeaked. "There's reason to believe an aircraft has gone down on Isla Sorna." So many things the man wanted to say but his clenched jaw made it impossible for him to talk. "Radar picked up an aircraft in the island's no fly zone. Radio contact was attempted, but there was no response. Shortly afterwards, the aircraft's blip fell off the radar."

Simon had no response. Nothing to say. The past several weeks had been a nightmare of stress for him. All he did was slam the phone down and sit there, simmering in anger. He sure hoped this wasn't about to turn into another publicized event, as was the occurrence from years back involving a little girl and her family. Why did he wake up and come in, today?

His phone rang again. Damned that confounded thing! He refused to answer. When it would stop ringing, it would ring again less than a minute later. Four times it did this and he knew it wouldn't stop till he answered it. Lazily, he picked it up and grumbled, "What now?"

"Sir?"

Simon knew this voice. It was Dr. Jacobs. "Yes?"

"Great news. I did it."

Did what? What did he do? The least it could be was something _really _good. "And that would be?"

* * *

Morning sunrays broke through the tree leaves and into Billy's eyes. He wasn't even aware he had fallen asleep. Being mindful of how he navigated the tree branch, he sat up and stiffened out a yarn. When he glanced over his shoulder, he found Paul and Amanda sleeping soundly in what looked to be a rather uncomfortable position. Her back was going to be hurting later and his backside was, no doubt, going to be numb.

Billy then thought back on where the body of Udesky had been, only to find it gone. At one point in the night, it had been taken and probably by the raptors. But they weren't scavengers. They were pack hunters, preferring their prey to be alive. So what took the body, then? He wanted to notify the others. Should he? It was still a bit too early. Best to let them rest. No telling what that day had in store for them and he knew it best everyone be fully rested. So he sat there, eyes scanning the forest underbrush for any movement of the raptors and or scavenger dinosaur.

* * *

A steady, high pitched beeping of a wrist watch echoed the interior of the fuel truck's tank. Pet went to reach for the source of the sound, barking in protest to the pain biting at her every muscle and joint. She felt like absolute crap. Her head felt like it was about to split open, there was a throbbing in her ears, swallowing felt like she was swallowing acid and her muscles felt knotted and cramped up.

Her barking a whimper in pain stirred Grant from his sleeping. His groggy eyes tried to focus on the woman, nuzzled up next to him with her head on his chest, and quietly questioned her. "Nica? Are you alright?"

The hybrid tried to talk, but a cough escaped her instead of words. After the spasm, she tried to sit up only to give up and lay back down against the man. "I don't know." She'd felt this before. Oh no. She wanted to cry.

"Why, was is it?"

She couldn't tell him. He already had enough on his mind and didn't need this to add on to it. No, she was over reacting. That was all. This only felt like her illness flaring up. So much had happened the day before and it had settled in during sleep.

"Just everything from yesterday. The plane crash, getting thrown around by a Spino... You know that fall didn't exactly feel too great...Then there's the running around, inhaling all that damn tear gas and let's not forget my falling and crashing into a tree root large enough to have its own zip code." Again, Pet tried to sit up except this time with Grant's assistance.

Everything spun around and her head ached a lot more. She felt sick to her stomach. It was just the old beans. That's all. She wasn't sick. It wasn't her illness. She was over reacting. Pet just sat there, head resting in her knees bent to her chest. She was whimpering and not even aware of doing so.

Eric was waking up, now, and looking to the two people. He could see something was wrong. "Dr. Grant? Veronica? Is something wrong?"

Grant opened his mouth to answer, Pet cutting him off. "No. I'm a little sore from everything yesterday. I'll be fine. I just need a minute to shake this off."

Knowing something was truly wrong with the hybrid, Grant reached over to feel of the woman's face. She was abnormally hot. He then felt of her arms and body. She was hot all over and with fever. "Veronica, you're sick."

"No!" Pet barked out in growl. "I'm fine!" She looked to her very good friend with tear glossed eyes. "I'll be fine." She reached for her backpack pushed off to the side next to a shelf and opened it up for a bottle of water. "We should get going, soon, and try to find the others."

A spark of excitement lit up Eric's face. Would he really be able to see his parents again? A smile upturned his chapped lips and dirt smudged cheeks.

* * *

**I am so ready to be done with JP 3 content lol The desire to finish and post the post rescue content is driving me nuts lol I'm finding myself wanting to write on that more than the JP3 stuff...**


	181. Reunions

**Okay, I'm done writing and posting for the little while. I rushed to get this chapter done so I could get ready for work. I haven't even proof read it so beware whatever mistakes there might be. Enjoy!**

* * *

**181 - Reunions**

Grant kept a close watch on Pet. She was weak and her hands shaking. Every time she tried to pick something up, her grip was questionable. At one point she almost dropped a pair of binoculars. He had to quickly take them from her before she did drop them. Anytime he wanted to ask her if she was sure she was going to be alright, he'd receive a spiteful glare. That or she just didn't appreciate his assistance. He wasn't quite sure which part of her was acting so aggressive towards him; the raptor in her or her pride and disliking feeling helpless. Either way, there was no winning with her.

Grant knew it best to just keep to himself. That didn't mean he wouldn't keep a watchful eye on the woman should her condition worsen.

Slowly and cautiously, Eric opened the hatch to the fuel tanker and peered around. The area was clear. He opened it all the way and stepped out, followed by the other two people. Fresh, morning air filled their lungs, Pet gagging and coughing. Breathing too deeply was a chore.

Grant hated to bother the woman so he spoke to Eric instead. "How familiar are you with the island? Were you able to find a map when salvaging supplies?"

"I found something of one, but it was too faded and torn to read so I didn't bother with it."

Pet snorted in annoyance. She knew this island pretty well. Why didn't he ask her? Suddenly it was all about asking the kid? Anger and jealousy seethed in the hybrid.

"There's a river not far from here, though. I remember coming across it when walking around one day." Eric lead the way, Grant following behind him and Pet trailing up the rear.

She adjusted her backpack on her shoulders, disliking how heavy it was feeling. She wasn't about to verbally complain, though, or show any hint of it being a bother to her. The less weakness she showed, the better things would be in her favor.

A couple hours ticked by, Grant and his companions coming to a cliff. They stopped shy of its ledge, the man studying the river. The current didn't appear very strong, but looks from this distance could be deceiving. He could see a collection of what looked like debris along side the bank and squinted to focus on the site. Why was he doing this? He then dropped his backpack at his feet to retrieve the binoculars he had packed up from the fuel truck. He focused in on the underlying river bank to see a boat.

"There's a boat, right alongside the bank. Looks in good shape."

Eric took the binoculars from the scientist to see for himself. "Rescue boat?"

One could only hope. "No, no. Just something left behind. But it floats."

Pet had taken a knee to help relieve the weight on her feet and reached out for the binoculars in Eric's hand. "It floats, yeah, but will it run?" She peered down on the site in mention. "Its an animal transport. We used to use those a lot in transferring smaller dinosaurs around on the island and to the dock or landing strip. From there, they'd get taken to Isla Nublar for the park exhibits."

She groaned when getting back to her feet, her handing the binoculars back to Eric. The boy was curious. "What about the big dinosaurs? Like the long necks? And the T-Rex? How did you move those?"

Pet and Eric followed behind Grant, her resuming her explaining. "They were either transported when juvenile and small enough to allow for moving or they were hatched on Isla Nublar and set loose into the wilds of their respective paddocks once a foster parent was found."

"Oh cool! I bet working on the park was fun."

The woman grimaced in remembrance. "Not so much." One memory came to her mind the most when recalling the unfortunate events surrounding her once good friend, Jophrey. "Accidents happened and lives were lost a couple times when dealing with the more dangerous species."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Something about man thinking they can control a stronger force than them."

Eric was curious. "But, I would think keeping dinosaurs in a zoo would be like elephants or rinos. Just...bigger and with more teeth."

Pet patted the boy on the shoulder. "Its the nature of things. Crap happens. Why do you think you ended up stranded on an island? Or Dr. Grant and I for that matter? There is no controlling that uncertainty in things."

Eric wrinkled his nose. "Sounds like you've been spending too much time around Dr. Malcolm."

"Nope," Pet quipped. "Just idiots."

Grant spoke up. "You'll have to forgive Veronica, Eric. She's a product of her upbringing. She was raised around an alarmist, hard ass of a man who was always armed for that worst case scenario."

Eric was a bit thrown off by the woman persona and decided to stay closer to Grant, instead. He buried his hands inside this tan, InGen logoed jacket and sighed. Inside one of the pockets was what looked like a claw he had found. Perhaps the older man would be interested in it.

The boy pulled it out of his pocket and showed it to the other person. "Know what this is?"

Grant took one look at it and faintly smiled to himself. "It's a raptor claw. I used to have one...a fossil."

"Mine is new." Eric sounded so proud of himself, like he had something over the experienced paleontologist. Heh, as if.

If wanting to get technical with it, he had two of them and they were still in working order, walking just a couple feet behind them. He gave the weary, flush faced hybrid a look over the shoulder. She was still patting along behind them, feet more of a shuffle than her usual light and careful steps.

"How much of the island did you explore?"

"I stayed pretty close to the compound. I figured if anyone came looking for me, that's where they'd start."

Yes, it was true human nature would go poking around ruins first for either cover or recovery for survivors. But sometimes, it wasn't always the best thing to do. "We need to get to the coast. That was the original plan."

"Are you sure? The closer you get to water, the bigger things get."

Pet rolled her throbbing, blood shot eyes and shoot her dizzy head. She wanted to smack the kid so badly in the back of the head. What kind of logic was he thinking? Good thing Muldoon or Terrence wasn't there. Then the boy would get a real lesson in animal behavior. She giggled to herself at the thought of.

Her giggles were abruptly halted when something odd and out of place sounded from somewhere distant in the forest. She perked her head up and gazed out into the shrubbery in the direction the sound was coming from. At first she thought it might've been a bird, but no bird on the island had that exotic of a chirp...or as melodic as that.

Was that- "Listen," Eric stated.

Grant hesitated in his pace to observe the two people. "What?"

"That's my dad's satellite phone!"

In the blink of an eye, Eric was trampling away through the grass just as tall as he was and heading in the direction of the phone ring. Grant was trying to keep up, but was also trying to make sure the hybrid wasn't going to fall out. What the man couldn't see to follow, he could hear. Eric's frantically shouting at the top of his lungs for his parents couldn't be missed.

Pet's adrenaline kicked in and she managed to keep up with Grant, how she wasn't sure. She fell over herself and tumbled to the ground, screeching at the sudden impact of pain. Strong hands lifted her by her arm and hoisted her back to her feet. The sounds of other people shouting back became more distinct.

Grant panted out, "That sounds like the Kirbys!"

"That's because it is." Pet took hold of the man and urged him to keep going. "Go, go!" And they pursued the trailing voices to their source.

Forest growth gave way to a sunny field occupied by a large border fence and rope net. On the other side of were the Kirbys and Billy running at full speed across the field. Eric and Amanda were the first ones to reach their side of the fence and they joyously collided against the other. The family was reunited, for the most part, separated only by the rope net.

The scientists were equally relieved to see the other alive, as well. Billy should've have doubted his mentor. After all, he'd been in a similar situation already and had the experienced hybrid at his side. "Boy, am I glad to see you." He looked to Pet standing shy of where Grant was. "You look rough. You okay?"

Pet bit her lips together and nodded. "Yep. Just...being me."

But Billy wasn't convinced. He knew that look in her bloodshot, glossed over eyes and that fluster in her face. A familiar strap overlaying his mentor's chest brought a hopeful twinkle to his eye. "Hey, you got my bag."

Grant nodded and smiled. "Yeah, lucky strap."

Did he know? Surely he didn't. Billy grew nervous with that uncertainty. "Want me to carry it?"

Either Grant didn't care or chose not to answer when studying the fencing, hands on his hips. "We need to find a gap, here."

He recalled the perimeter fence around the park's visitor center and how he and the kids had climbed over it. That was, before Tim got electrocuted. Such would not be the case in this situation since the fence wasn't electrified. Only one problem, though. Those spikes at the top would pose a problem. His eyes rolled in their sockets to the machete still on Pet's belt.

Pet backed away from the fence to study it, as well, forgetting all about the machete. She started walking away and parallel down the obstructing object. Grant called after her, "Veronica..."

Meanwhile, the rejoined family continued to gush, Paul genuinely curious. "How did you know we were here?"

Eric forced himself away from his mother's smothering embrace long enough to answer his father. "The phone. That stupid jingle from the store. I heard it!"

"My phone?" That didn't make any sense to Paul. He didn't have his phone on him.

"Your satellite phone."

By now, Pet was long away from caring about what Paul had to say. Sure she was happy the family was together, again, but did he still have to have the ability to talk? She really didn't like that guy.

Ringing. There was that phone ring again, but it wasn't coming from the group of people roughly 15 feet away. No this was coming from behind them. The hybrid reluctantly looked over her shoulder to see the source of the phone ring. The Spinosaur.

She snorted a hiss. "Ah hell. Alan!" She looked to Grant standing a ways away. "Get that ass moving!"


	182. With The Best Intentions

**I think I had a little too much fun writing this chapter XD So much emotion to dive into and play with!**

* * *

**182 - With the Best Intentions**

The dinosaur roaring startled the group of people and they took off running in the direction the hybrid had been walking away in. She ran, passing by what looked like an opening in the fence's poles and backtracked.

She pointed at it and motioned for the others. "Here, here! Through here!" She ran through it, Eric moments behind and Grant behind him. Pet took him by this shirt and yanked him through, the dinosaur's massive jaws inches shy of grabbing him.

They ran until they felt a safe distance from the fencing and turned to watch the frustrated Spinosaur pace around, roaring. Paul and Amanda refused to relax their tight clutch on their son, especially with a large fearsome dinosaur not too far away.

Billy took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled it. His heart was racing. Was this what Pet had to live with for 4 years? "That was close." He looked the woman kneeling on the ground and heavily panting. "You okay?" She nodded.

_CRASH!_ The Spinosaur had busted through the metal beams of the fence, leaving nothing between it and the group of people. Pet grabbed Grant by his arm. "In the building! Run! Go!"

And the group did so without further hesitation. The men slammed the buildings double, heavy metal doors shut and used their combined weight to keep them closed while securing them. Over and over the attacking Spinosaur tried to get in, its might against the doors rattling them on their hinges.

After watching the dinosaur charge through the border fencing, he was a bit skeptical in the doors' ability to hold it back as well. "How strong are those things?"

Pet answered. "It just bust through a fence...I think its pretty strong."

"No, I mean the doors. Will they keep that thing out?"

"Pretty sure they will." Paul's worry laced blue eyes met the woman's raptor ones. The way she looked at him still greatly unnerved him. "But I suggest we not wait around to find out just how determined that thing is to get us." She hissed a snort at the man and walked away, following Grant and Billy.

Just beyond a series of broken windows was a rather innocent view over looking the river and surrounding mountains. Despite how peaceful the view looked from here, things could be and had been quite chaotic down there. Pet remembered coming here a handful of occasions and frowned. Surely nothing could still be alive, seeing how the specimens this building complex hosted were confined to a limited area and fed using a time release machine. Fish would be brought in on a regular basis and kept in large pools within the facility. Seeing how there was no one there to supply fish and the machines out of order, how would they have gotten food? Sure, there was the river, but there wouldn't be enough fish to feed what animals there were.

Pet leaned against a window seal and groaned in pain. If could lay down and sleep, that would be great. Alas, though, it wasn't happening. Grant joined her, obviously looking troubled. What now? Where were they to go? What were they to do? The river lie just beneath the compound and knew that by following it downstream, it'd lead to the coast.

"Alan," Billy began, "you want to give me the bag back?"

"It's okay, I got it." Grant had completely forgotten he had it. He had been carrying it around so much that he had become used to it being there.

The younger man wasn't going to accept that. He had to have his bag back. Before now, when believing it to be gone, he accepted the loss and wrote it off. Now that it was back and appearing undamaged, there was hope. A hope that was consuming him to the point of dangerously obsessed.

"Please, give me the bag."

Billy's tone of voice drew interest from Pet and she stood up from her leaning to look inquisitively at him. She then looked over to a just as thrown off Grant, seeming more agitated and suspicious than anything.

Grant knew the bag and camera held a significance to his protégé, but why was he all of a sudden so obsessed in having it back? This was the third time since reuniting he had asked for it. Something wasn't right.

Billy's expression wore a level of passive aggressiveness Pet had never seen before. "It's not safe."

The woman was mind blown. "Not safe? What? If it wasn't for Alan, your bag would've been bye bye, jackass. What's gotten into you, anyway?"

Grant wanted to know the same thing. A mental war broke out in his head. He felt the urge to unzip it to see what was inside, other than a camera, but knew he really wasn't wanting to find out. What had Billy done this time? Slowly, Grant began to unzip it, Billy's face washing of all color. He looked sick and felt just as. A gut wrenching knot rose to his throat.

Shit. He was screwed. No, fired. Whatever future he _thought_ he had in paleontology was about to be erased. Maybe he could convince his mentor his reasoning for and make him see his side of things. If not Grant then maybe Pet. Pet was an understanding and sympathetic type. He could convince her and she could speak on his behalf to Grant should things go sour.

Once the flap was unzipped, Grant opened to find the perfect explanation for everything. "Raptor eggs."

Pet gasped. "What the fuck, Billy! You...Oh my God I don't believe it..." She brought a hand to her mouth in horror. "Why?"

Grant scowled at his protégé, him growling in question. "Did you _steal_ raptor eggs?"

Billy was shaking all over in anxiety and absolute fear. Oh, he was done for. The look in his mentor's eyes let him know real quickly there would be no getting out of this even if the hybrid took his side. And well, judging by her jaw dropped expression, he wasn't going to forgive him either. He was so screwed.

So many things Grant wanted to say, none of which would be appropriate to say with a child present nearby. He clenched his jaw and zipped closed the bag. "Now it all makes sense."

"I swear, if I'd known you were going to end up with them..." Billy swallowed the knot rising into his throat. The bitter taste of bile couldn't be swallowed back as he tried to keep from succumbing to wanting to be sick. "It was an impulse. I thought they'd be worth a fortune. Enough to fund the dig site another 10 more years." He had to get the senior scientist to understand. "You have to believe me. This was a stupid decision-"

Pet cut in. "No shit, you think!?"

Paul could both hear and see things weren't doing so well for the three scientists and cautiously approached them. Billy continued. "I did it with the best intentions."

"With the best intentions," Grant mocked back. "Some of the worth things..._imaginable..._were done with the _best intentions_." He took a step closer to the younger man, Pet recoiling a bit when feeling the strong wave of anger radiate off him. "You know what, Billy? As far as I'm concerned, you're no better than the _people that built this place!_"

The words stung Billy in a way he never thought imaginable. Everything inside him shattered. He looked up to the renowned paleontologist with the highest respect possible and to be hit with such heavy, impacting words destroyed him on the inside.

As for Pet, she had no idea the older man could be so hateful in words. After growing up around Hammond and Muldoon a better part of her life, harsh criticism rolled off her back. But this. What Grant had to say made even her choke up.

Even Paul arched his brow at the man. Whoa. This guy was pissed.

Grant stormed past Billy and Pet to a broken window was and held the bag outside. He should drop it, now, and get it over with. _Get rid of the eggs, Alan. Do it. Drop it._ He could feel his grip loosen on the bag and the strap fall from his fingers to blow in the wind.

Billy couldn't fight it anymore. He shoved Pet aside and lunged for a broken window, becoming ill.

Pet whimpered, "Alan..." and chanced in taking a step closer to him.

It was either the weight of the bag or the consequences of weakening Grant's outstretched arm. _No. Don't. This could be bad._ He looked around at the many pairs of eyes watching him intently. He couldn't drop the bag and he drew his arm back inside, tightly clutching the top handle.

Paul was flabbergasted. "What are you doing? Those things are after us because of those!"

Grant un-shouldered his backpack and began stuffing the camera bag within it. "Those _things_ know we have the eggs. If I drop them in the river, they'll still be after us."

"What if they catch us with them?"

"What if they catch us without them?" He zipped back up his backpack, speaking in loud authority. "There's a boat at the bottom, just downriver." Grant turned and headed for a spiraling staircase not too far away. "We can try to make it to the coast, at least."

The Kirbys weren't about to try the senior scientists patience any further than what Billy had as they made sure to stay close behind.

Pet looked to Billy in a mix of emotions. Horror. Disappointment. Uncertainty. He looked away in shame. "Veronica, I'm sorry, I-"

"Why? Was all this worth the possibility of _money_?"

Billy's glossed over eyes met the woman's now normal blue green ones. "I-" A sharp slap from Pet silenced his next words and stung his left cheek.

"Fuck you," she growled and backed away, teary eyed, to follow the rest.


	183. The Aviary

**183 - The Aviary**

The further down the staircase the people went, the cooler the air became. Normally, such cooler air would bring a chill to Pet, but not this time. She gladly welcomed the temperature change as it felt soothing against her feverish body. She sniffed of the stale air, her smelling faint traces of rotting flesh. This brought to question the environment around her. Should she be worried? She lightly hissed a screech and perked her head up, listening to what she could. All was quiet, minus the running of water from the river nearby, as well the breathing of the people standing next to her.

Grant studied the hybrid. "What is it?"

Pet shook her head. "That's just it." She met his gaze. "...Nothing."

Paul inquired, next. "That's a good thing, right?"

"Not necessarily." Grant gave Paul a sideways glance and resumed his exploring the new found area of the compound.

The two men went down a set of stairs, Grant being mindful of his step and good thing, too. A section of the catwalk stairs broke loose, the man's grip on the railing and Paul's around his arm, saving him from falling.

Pet heard the noise and saw what could've happened and stumbled to where they were. "Alan! Are you okay?"

She helped get him to his feet, the two men and the hybrid watching and listening to the stair section land in the water. Paul whistled to himself. "You okay?"

Grant nodded. "Yeah." Looks like they would have to go another way. "Veronica, do you remember your way around here?"

She shook her head. "I didn't come this way, very much. There was a specially trained group of game wardens that dealt with this. Robert and I mostly tended to the herbivores and some of the carnivores that other people didn't want to deal with. Mostly the raptors..."

The man nodded his head. Time to take a tour of the place and hope for the best. In his striding towards a bridge section, his resentful gaze rested on Billy for a moment.

Grant took one step onto the bridge section and strongly disliked how it rattled beneath his weight. That wasn't good. "Let's do this one at a time, shall we?" He just hoped his weight, alone, wasn't enough to send the section into the foggy depths below and to an almost predictably painful death.

Pet grabbed his hand to stop him. "Want me to go ahead?" They two people studied each other for a moment. "No offense, babe, but I'm lighter than you and well..." she closed the distance between them to whisper in his ear, "Neither know what's on the other side."

Did she know something he didn't? He felt the heat of her fever against his face. "You're in no condition, Nica."

She wasn't dissuaded and proceeded down the catwalk with or without his permission. Cautiously, Pet crossed the rickety bridge section and safely to the other side. She sniffed the air again and listened to the surroundings. Still quiet. "Okay, Alan!"

A sharp pain wracked at her insides, sending to her knees. She screeched a whimper and gasped for air. Her condition was deteriorating. Once they got to the boat, she could finally rest. She just had to help get them to the boat.

Grant mirrored the woman's slow and steady steps, him able to see her hunched over form break through the dense fog. He rushed to her aide. "Veronica?"

The woman coughed and wiped at her sweaty brow. "Don't worry about me. We need to keep going."

He knew what she was saying was true, even though he wanted to let her take a break. He called out to the others. "Okay, come on over!" Another cough ripped his care and concerns off of the others and back to her. "We can take a break if you need it."

"No." Pet shook her head and continued to cough. After a couple moments, it passed. "If I stop, I can't guarantee I'll be able to get up and keep going. As long as we don't stop, I'll be fine."

"You're not fine, Veronica. You're sick and you need to rest."

"Look around, Alan! I can't! Those people, over there," She pointed in the direction of the others. "They're counting on us to get them to safety." The hybrid fought to get to her feet, barking a yelp.

Grant wrapped his arms around the woman upper body to help stabilize her. "After this, when we're off this damn island and back home..." he gently caressed her flustered face. "I'm going to give you the best wedding I can."

Pet weakly smiled. "Just get me out of here and I'll call it even."

The two people smiled to the other, Grant taking her by a hand and guiding her down a catwalk. "Now we just need to figure out where to go from there. We need to get down there...to the river." Pet could hear Amana call out to Eric and went motionless. She heard something nearby and it brought a bad tingle to her spine. "Veronica?" She didn't verbally answer, but the fearful expression on her face told him something was wrong. "What is it?"

Her blue green eyes morphed to a raptor's and her breathing intensify. "We're not alone..." Pet's gaze broke off Grant's equally startled one and to where a white substance was, dried onto a beam of the catwalk's protective fencing.

"What is this place?" His eyes followed hers and to the questionable, dried substance.

He broke off a section to analyze it and suddenly regretted asking that question. Bird feces and from what he could tell, an incredibly large bird. What flying creature could InGen have created? There were so many that crossed Grant's mind.

The sound of something closer was now louder, Pet whimpering a screech. "Alan..."

A strong rumble vibrated through the catwalk structure, both people feeling it. Grant's concerns went beyond the hybrid's shoulder and to where Amanda was standing. He rushed over to her, Pet trudging behind him. His eyes met hers and then upwards, the rolling fog parting just enough to make out a dome like cage over the canyon.

"Oh my God...Its a bird cage."

Amanda didn't like the tone of the scientist's voice. "For what?" She looked to Pet.

Another rattling of the catwalk bridge was quickly followed by Eric screaming. The hybrid snorted, "Shit," and pushed past Grant. She wasn't in the mood nor in the best of shape for this crap.

* * *

**Pet's about to open a can of whoop ass...Raptor style... :)**

**As a side note, I wont be able to finish or post 184 before having to get ready for work in an hour but I plan to work on it and post it as soon as I can.**


	184. Hasty Decisions

**I was just super OMG about getting this chapter out. Certain events in my head have been stuck in my head for years and I'm just now getting it out of my head LOL Awesomely enough, though, this chapter marks a special mile stone for me...I hit my 400th page in writing doing this chapter! :D So enjoy!**

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**184 - Hasty Decisions**

Deep toned screeching pierced the air. Grant tried to make out what it was posing harm to them, but was unable to. The fog filling the canyon was much too thick to make anything out in, unless close range.

What were they dealing with, here? He was about to find out. "What is that thing?"

Pet, panting and trying to keep up, breathlessly replied. "Sounds like...a Pteranodon."

The faint form of the large winged predator could be seen flying off and with a desperately shouting Eric in its clutches. After everything everyone had been through, they were _not_ about to loose Eric this easily! Heavy and franticly running footsteps against the catwalk echoed the air. None bothered to think about any other unsafe or loose sections of the bridge when following the boy's screams.

Amanda yelled at the top of her lungs, "I can't see him, I can't see him!"

Grant was a bit livid with the situation and felt it could've been avoided. "_Damn it_, Veronica, why didn't you tell us these things were in here?!"

"I didn't think they would still be alive!"

"_Are you kidding me_?"

Pet just knew she was in a similar, sinking boat as Billy. Might as well hop in with him and let the current of Grant's wrath carry them off. Great.

Paul could be heard. "This way!" But trying to make out where he was, was a bit difficult.

He and Amanda had blindly ran ahead, their figures sometimes visible amongst the fog. Had it not been for Grant having to frequently drag the weakened hybrid behind him to keep her up to pace with him, he would be further ahead then where he currently was. He was barely able to keep track of Billy, roughly 15 feet in front of him.

Then he stopped. Why did Billy stop? Pet unintentionally collided into Grant and leaned against him for support, deeply panting, while the man stared bewilderingly to his protégé. He was fastening the parachute's harness straps around him.

"Billy..."

But he didn't care to listen and took off running up a set of stairs leading to a higher tiered, over look. Grant's running after the younger man caused Pet to loose her support and fall to the hard surface of the bridge way. As much as he was concerned for the hybrid, there was another serious, pressing matter.

He continued to call out to his protégé in plea. "Billy, stop! Don't Billy!"

Hearing the commotion made Pet raise her head in deep worry. What was he about to do? Mustering what she could of herself, the hybrid stumbled when getting to her feet to follow the other two. She hadn't even reached the stairs when she saw the man jump from the railing, above, and into the canyon below. Moments later, red and white of a parachute came into view.

Pet topped the stairs, but with some effort. Grant was back at her side, helping her stay on her feet. Why, of all the times, did she _have_ to get sick now? He couldn't really be mad at her. It wasn't her fault her illness decided to flare up _at the worst possible time!_

They soon came across the Kirbys and to a dead end in the walkway as well. A section of it had fallen off, at one point in the past, leaving them no where to go. But down. Another squawk of a roar ripped their attention off the empty void of the lacking walkway, a Pteranodon replacing it. It tried to land on the exposed section of the walkway, only to fail. The provided area was much too small for both its body mass and wing span so it decided to try and find another way to the group of people.

Seeing how Pet was previously dragging behind the people, she was now in front of them given her head start. By that head start was cut off by the Pteranodon crashing onto the caged in walkway after falling though the top. Now it was between her and the others.

The dinosaur crept towards the group of frightened people, Grant trying to shield the others from harm. A raptor like shriek was heard as Pet leapt onto its back. Her grip was weak, though, and the force behind her toe's claws digging at its hind legs lacking. Grant kicked at the animal's head while it tried to shake its attacker off its back.

Paul tugged for the scientist to follow in their retreating backwards. That was, until they ran out of walkway. Back to the dead end section. He only hoped a second wouldn't join the first and completely trap them inside. But that idea was quickly replaced by the realization they were about to fall. The support mounts bolted into the cliff side broke loose, causing the section housing them to slant.

Loss of footing sent them falling to the water below, Pet desperately clutching onto the dinosaur's back and neck to not fall as well. Between her weight and the dinosaur's combined, it was too much for it to support and it too fell into the river below. Landing in the water dislodged Pet's grip and the Pteranodon able to try and get away. It was almost out of the water when the loose section of the walkway completely broke loose and fell into the water and onto the frantic animal. To the river's depths it sank and most likely to his regretful end.

Grant had been attentively watching what was happening and was terrified. "Veronica!" He would swim under if he had to save her should something have happened to her.

Pet surfaced and coughed for air, grabbing at whatever she could to keep her above water. A hand took hold of hers and helped her to shore, her about to hug them in relief until she saw it was Paul. She blinked and disbelief and quickly started looking around.

"Alan!"

Grant motioned to her. "Here! Are you alright? Is anyone hurt?" He looked to the others, concerned. Seeing they were fine, he took off running again and leaving Pet to stumble behind him.

She was really in no condition for this. If she wasn't sick, she'd be the one leaving them behind when hauling ass all over the place. She definitely needed a rest after this. Breathing was becoming more and more difficult and her body teetering on the brink of a complete collapse. But something in her kept pushing to follow the others.

Eric was standing on the shore not too far ahead and pointing across the river and upwards. His aim was on Billy, stranded several feet up on the rocks because of the snagged parachute. "There he is! He's across the river!"

He should jump. He had to jump. Staying here, swinging from the rocks was only putting him in more harm. Billy looked below to see the area free of any rocks. Which only left to question, how deep was the water? If it was too shallow, he could break his legs, if not more, on impact. Either way, he was still in a bad situation. Here would result in him being fed on by passing by Pteranodon. Down there, he at least stood a better chance.

Billy began unfastening the harness and allowed himself to fall freely into the water beneath. Luckily for him, he landed in a deep portion that swallowed him completely. In his resurfacing, he got to shallower waters and started to run from another Pteranodon flying in behind him.

The animal's talons raked across this back and shoulders when grabbing him by his shirt. The sudden invasion of pain on the man's body made him yell out in pain and struggle against his captor.

Despite the Pteranodon's best efforts to keep a hold of its prey, the twisting and struggling caused the hopeful meal to splash back into the water.

Two more dinosaurs were coming in to take a claim on the kill, Billy just knowing this was it. He could see his mentor and Paul racing towards him through the water, but there was nothing they could do. Billy tried to think of a way to get himself out of this situation and to keep the others out of it, too.

He waved a hand to the other two people. "Get away! Go!"

All Grant could do was watch, horrified at the scene as the other man was relentlessly attacked by the savage bird like creatures. Billy could still be heard screaming and seen splashing as he was swept away in the river's current. No. Not like this. He might've been a son of a bitch at times, but he didn't deserve to die like this.

A piercing, high pitched shrill tore through the air and over the bellowing squawking roars of the Pteranodons. Pet. She was running along the river's opposite shore the fastest she could. A furious look of death was in her raptor eyes solely set on the attacking creatures. She leapt onto a nearby rock and off, right on the backs of one of the Pteranodons. Her sickle claws tore at the hunches of her current target, her not caring about how dull her hands' claws were at that moment. The raptor in her had kicked in and all the saw was red in furiousness. She knew with enough force, her dulled claws could puncture skin and that was all she was wanting to do.

All she needed was to break the thin skin of the wings and the rest she'd take care of with her hands. With a forceful jerk of a hand's claws, wing tissue was torn and split open. The dinosaur, already shrieking in pain, was loosing its ability to fly. It began to fly away from the other, Pet letting go.

She was in no condition to be doing this and Grant knew it. Though he understood her purpose for such an action, knew doing so would hurt her and probably cost her in life. "_Veronica, no_!" He had to help her, had to save her.

In his trying to go after her, Paul stopped him. A Pteranodon watching the scene turned its gaze on the two fear struck men. They were not about to allow themselves to share the same fate as Billy and reluctantly fled the scene. He didn't want to leave her. The weight of turning his back on the hybrid and running for his own life was something he didn't do easily. He would go back and get her. He had to. He _needed_ to. Not just because of his promise to those involved, but because he loved her. He wasn't going to just leave her.

Once he and Paul were clear of the cage, he glanced back over his shoulder to see a Pteranodon crash into the caging to attack them. They were out of its reach and it squawked its roar in anger. How would he be able to go back and get her? Grant knew going back in was an impending death sentence. Pet was strong. She'd been sick on the island before and had lived then. She'd live now, right? He had just seen her damn near tear apart a Pteranodon in flight.

She was strong. She knew the plan. Get to the coast. She'd meet them at the coast. Would she even be able to walk? She bad been barely able to move. Grant kept telling himself over and over again the hybrid would be fine.

Paul pointed to the boat he knew the senior scientist had seen. "There! There's the boat! Hurry, come on! Get on!" He hoisted Eric up onto it first, following by assisting Amanda. He offered a hand to Grant, the man so lost in his own mind that he didn't immediately notice the offer. "Come on, we need to get out of here!"

Taking Paul Kirby's hand and getting on that boat meant leaving the cage; leaving her. "I can't. Veronica..." His voice was heart wrenching. "I can't leave her, Mr. Kirby."

Paul understood all too well. "I know, but we have to get out of here. Staying here could mean risking all of our lives. We can wait around for a few minutes, but we're going to have to get going."

Grant nodded and reluctantly boarded the boat. His eyes remained centered on the cage, him whole heartedly expecting to see Pet with Billy in tow running away to safety. No matter how hard he willed it, though. It wasn't going to happen.

"Come on, baby," he whispered to himself. "You got this. Come on, come on..." Still nothing. And there wouldn't be. Because she had been indubitably taken down stream.


	185. Swept Away

**I spent way too much time researching some stuff for this next chapter...I used about 1/2 of what a good friend researched for me mostly because it seemed too drawn out and took away from the core content being discussed. I'll probably plug it in somewhere in another chapter. Initially, things weren't going to happen this fast until shortly after the recovery...but...I had an idea. And it sounded good. So I ran with it. I've also got another little something something planned out for later in the recovery chapter ;) Not going to spoil it though!**

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**185 - Swept Away**

Over and over the enraged second Pteranodon assaulted the two people in the water. Pet hoarsely shrilled out and kept trying to grab the animal, each downbeat of its wings, but was having some trouble. Her hands were slippery and every time she had a hold of it, would only loose it. The next idea she had would probably cost her and she was hesitant on acting on it.

The Pteranodon mercilessly pecking at an already weakened Billy made Pet finally act on her plan. When the beast lowered it's head for another peck, she grabbed it by the lower part of its beak and screamed in pain when its beak clamped down on her hands. The hybrid forced a leg up out of the water and tore at the soft portion of the animal's belly. Loud, painful roars of the dinosaur echoed the canyon, Pet feeling her hand be released when it opened its beak. But she wasn't releasing it. She resumed tearing at its belly, paying no mind the amounts of blood painting her red.

Another deep slice of Pet's sickle claw completely split its belly, it falling into the water. Since it no longer posed a threat, being on the brink of dead, the woman looked around for Billy. She couldn't see him. Had he washed further ahead? Did he drown?

"Billy!" As if he would answer.

A strained voice answered back. "Nica!"

Pet tried to call again, but water rushing into her mouth and down her throat cut her off. She coughed in choking and tried to keep her head above water. That was when she a flash of his shirt from the corner of her eye. Billy was roughly 5 feet from her so she fought against the rapid water and over to where he was.

"Billy?" She wrapped a firm hand around his arm and drew him to her. "Stay with me."

They needed to get to shore, but how? The current was strong and the water still too deep to get footing. She tried to swim to shore, only to be swept by the current into a rock. A sharp pain tore at her elbow, splitting it open and weakening her outstretched arm. Drowning. Now she was drowning. Her head kept getting submerged every time she tried to gulp for air and knew if she didn't do something quick, it'd be the end of her and Billy, if he wasn't already a goner.

No. Pet wasn't going to allow this happen as she fought to remain afloat. She began to look for a place to swim, if only just higher ground on a rock. Something to get them out of this rough current. All around, the canyon walls towered above her and straight into the water below. There was no shore and the rocks were too jagged to try and take refuge on. At least they were clear of the aviary's cage, now. She could see parts of it through the fog before it disappeared all together around a curve. There was no way to get back to Grant or the others. Guess it was try to get to the coast like originally planned.

The water was starting to calm, which made it easier to navigate the currents. Pet made sure to keep Billy's head above water, hoping a strip of shore would come sooner than later the further they went downstream.

* * *

"I don't care what the Costa Rican government has to say! Those islands belong to my company, making this a company matter, and will be handled as such! Is that understood?" Simon was livid and his voice booming into Gulf Stream G650's business phone. Scratch that. He was beyond livid and doing his best to try and stay calm. "Have a specialized security team dispatched to Costa Rica immediately and on standby for possible survivor extraction should it be necessary. I should be arriving in Costa Rica around 7:30 AM which is roughly 12 hours from now. That's more than enough time to have a team assembled and on site from San Diego. Keep me posted." He then hung up the phone without hearing any other excuses needing to be said.

A stewardess clad in a nice dress suit approached him. "Sir, can I get you anything to drink?"

"A brandy would be nice. Straight, too, please." The woman politely nodded and strode off.

* * *

Up ahead, Pet could see the canon cliffs diminish and plant life become visible. She had no idea what awaited them on shore, but knew it beat fighting exhaustion in the river and chancing drowning. Billy was less responsive, which was probably due to his blood loss from his wounds. Yeah, she needed to get them both to shore.

Pet began to swim the best she could to mainland, biting past the pain at her injured elbow. A low hanging tree limb appeared to provide something to hold onto and assist with getting to shore. She reached out and grabbed it once close enough and screeched in pain when flexing her hand. She had forgotten about her hand being injured when the Pteranodon bit down on them during her attacking it.

The skin stretching caused whatever blood clot had formed to break open. She wasn't about to let go of the limb, though. A sharp bark like cry escaped her as her injured arm was completely extended in her efforts to keep Billy from being taken from her by the river.

One good hoist brought the two people closer to land. Footing was established and Pet able to stumble onto the sandy, grass patched earth. She collapsed onto the dirt, Billy groaning in pain at his own impacting the ground.

Pet weakly looked over to him to check on him. "Hey..." Her voice was raspy and barely a whisper. "You okay?" She could see his mouth try to form words, but like her, barely had any energy. Again, this brought to mind his wounds and she knew she had to treat him. "Hang in there, buddy."

She tried to get up and had herself propped up for a moment before collapsing again. Her body refused to cooperate. The hybrid started recalling the different plants and herbs she used when making a medicinal, herbal paste to help with healing wounds. She had to find some. Again she tried to get up, but a weight on her shoulders kept her grounded. Her backpack. It being waterlogged, as well as its contents, weighed a lot more than when dry. She began recalling the bag's contents and what was causing so much additional weight when wet.

That's it. Screw whatever else was in the bag. She had a first aide kit! She had recovered it from the plane shortly after crashing. With a little more effort than Pet was expecting, she un-shouldered the burdensome bag and tugged at the drawstrings to open it. She still had 2 bottles of unused water and there, underneath them was the broken first aide kit.

Thank goodness everything was packaged in plastic, otherwise the gauze bandages would be useless. "Okay, Billy...here we go." Pet scattered the bag's contents on the river bank and observed her barely conscious friend. "You're going to have to help me so I can get you patched up, okay?" Not waiting for him to say no, she began removing his button down cover shirt. "I need to get your shirt off so I can treat your wounds."

It took a bit convincing, and some struggling, but Billy finally gave in and obliged.

* * *

Just 10 hours to go before Simon would arrive in Costa Rica and into a giant pain of legal issues. Were people still so fascinated with dinosaurs that they'd risk their own lives, if not someone else's, to get a peek at one? He rested his chin in his hand and gazed out of a window over looking the passing by cloud formations outside. In due time, he'd be able to give people what they wanted and hopefully without the loss of life. Mere plans, now, had a great chance to be more. There was just some ground work to be done before anything could happen.

He sighed, the stewardess returning with a short glass quarter full of brandy. Perfect.

Simon kept returning to what he and Dr. Jacobs discussed over the phone shortly before his eventual giving in and flying down to Costa Rica from India. Not long ago, the Dr. had been kidnapped by a certain person of question, Derek Muldoon, and taken to a type of bunker somewhere out in the mountains. Once there, it was learned the kidnapper was accompanied by none other than his uncle and yet another past InGen employee, Terrence Mitchell, in this said bunker. And behold a fourth person, the hybrid herself, I-HY10 a.k.a. Pet was there too.

Another rush of anger seared at Simon's insides. He was almost certain this is why he was so upset and unnaturally short tempered. Jacobs knew how determined and almost desperate he was at recovering the hybrid and yet, contact had been made with her and withheld from him. After this, he planned to go to San Diego and have a long, face to face talk with the geneticist. Jacobs had been warned it was going to happen and to not leave the San Diego area. If he did, charges would be made and things would get rather ugly for him regarding legal matters.

Before Simon knew it, he had drank all his brandy and his glass barely housing a mere taste of the liquid. A quick upwards glance to the attentive stewardess was enough in suggestion to have her at his side and pouring more. She needed a nice tip after this and he made a mental note to have such done once landed. He was quickly back to his train of thoughts.

He had already learned quite a while back ago that nephew and uncle had retreated to Montana shortly post returning from Isla Sorna. Was this bunker somewhere in the mountains near the state? Jacobs explained he hadn't been on the road 'for too long' before arriving to the unknown location. This bunker had to be elsewhere, then. Had they moved to Montana only to move somewhere else? People in a questionable situation, such as theirs, would undoubtedly be on the constant move to avoid being found for questioning. But why Montana? What was there to attract them initially going there?

He leaned over his seat and glanced behind him to see a professionally dressed, brunette American woman with glasses seated a couple seats back across the plane and staring at a laptop computer screen. She saw her employer's attention resting on her and she perked up in acknowledgment. "Can I help you with something, Mr. Masrani?"

"Yes, Stephanie" he began, "I need to you to look up something for me, if you wouldn't mind."

"Absolutely." Stephanie closed out a game of Solitaire. She then brought up a chart of the man's many companies and status charts. "What did you need to know?"

"The American state of Montana."

The woman's brow wrinkled behind her glass's thin silver frame. "Montana...sir?"

Did he stutter? Not speak loud enough or clear enough to be heard? "Yes. That's right."

Again, Stephanie closed out of the active window to bring up an internet search engine. "Was there something specific you wanted to know?"

"What's it known for...The mountains, hunting...a certain cultural style unique to the United States...anything."

"Oh, um, okay...One minute, sir..." It was mind boggling how fast the woman could type and click the mouse pad at the same time. "Here we go...Montana." Since the mountains were brought up first in mention, she'd discuss that. "A third of Montana's western range contains mountain ranges...There's a lot of farming in the region...Several national parks like Yellowstone."

Stephanie shrugged a weak smile to the man. Why was he asking her this anyway? Obviously Yellowstone was no interest to him. She continued to name off several features of the state, including lakes, valleys, other popular tourist attractions, discussions of the many minerals Montana housed before discussing more boring topics like scientific work in the area.

She inhaled a deep breath in preparation for another long winded listing of content. "Then there's a lot of science oriented work with fossils and paleontologists, most notably-"

"Dr. Alan Grant," Simon interrupted, his eyes wide in realization. Stephanie cocked a brow at him in bafflement. "That's it." Why hadn't it thought of it sooner?

After all this mess to do with Costa Rica, the U.S. Embassy and Isla Sorna was taken care of, he was heading straight for Montana.

He spun back around in his chair to stare speechless at the forward cabin wall. The stewardess was looking to him in question, too. Was there something he needed? His drink still looked good in level. So what was going on in his head? Perhaps he was thinking of buying something else somewhere in Montana. Being amongst the richest people in the world, there was no telling.


	186. Surviving The Odds

**186 - Surviving The Odds**

Grant remained unblinking at the passing by scenery, slowly becoming darker in contrast to the early evening. He felt sick to his stomach and numb everywhere. Veronica. She was still out there and with no idea on how she was doing. Did the Pteranodon finish her off? Did she drown? Did her illness get the best of her? His mind was tortured with the what ifs and uncertainty of his fiancé's condition.

Sometimes, when he got to thinking about it for so long, he thought he could almost hear her call out to him. He'd then look around, just knowing it was her following the boat from the shore. He'd frantically look around, even startling the Kirbys when doing so. They, too, would sometimes look around half expecting something to be there. Of course, nothing was.

And it further saddened Grant to the point of complete isolation. He stood at the bow of the boat and gazing off into the distance. A medium sized python could be seen lounging on a branch overhanging the water, everyone seeing it except him. He could careless.

He excelled a labored breath, unaware he was so emotionally distraught. Eric had been watching the man and it pained him. Slowly, he approached the much older and well respected scientist. "Dr. Grant?"

The addressed man turned to face the timid boy, looking so innocent in his intentions. "Hey, Eric. How are you doing?"

Grant forced himself to sit down, his knees aching in protest to bending. He'd been standing there for so long, they had become stiff. Was he really getting that old? Come to think about it, all of him felt sore and not just from age, either. Running for one's life for a couple days could do that to a person, especially when not in the habit of it.

Eric squeezed out a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry about Billy...and Veronica"

Grant clenched his jaw in sear annoyance. He was having a tough enough time trying to come to terms with his protégé's assumed fate and his fiancé's running off to save him that he didn't need this kid picking at the still raw wound from it all.

"Veronica is strong. She used to work and even live on this island all by herself. If she survived, then, she'll survive now. As for Billy...well...You know what the last thing I said to him was?" Repeating the words in his head angered the man. He couldn't even begin to fathom how it hurt Billy, when thinking about it. "I said, '_You're as bad as the people that built this place'._" He shook his head to himself. "Which wasn't true. Billy was just young. That's all. I have a theory that there are two kinds of boys." Grant held up one finger to show. "There are those who want to be astronomers," he then held up a second finger. "And those who want to be astronauts."

Eric sat and listened to every word spoke, finding it hard to believe he was sitting there at that present moment. For a little while, there, he was beginning to think he was going to be permanently stranded on the island like what he saw in a movie. Too bad he didn't have a ball to call his make believe friend.

The idea of parasailing off the island crossed his mind, but then came the issue of what all was out there in the ocean that could get him? How far would he have to go before rescued? Would it even work? He knew eventually he'd come across the Costa Rican coast, should he _not_ venture off in the wrong direction.

Then came to mind the fact he was sitting there, staring in amazement at a man he saw as a childhood hero. Eric almost wanted to pinch himself, it seeming that too good to be true. He lowered his head in contemplation to what had been said and nodded to himself.

Warmth of the sun washing over him drew his attention upwards, him seeing a field stretch beyond the river's banks. Grazing and walking within it were several Brachiosaurs and Stegosaurs. "Dr. Grant..."

The boy's sideways attention was followed by Grant's, both people standing to observe the majestic creatures. Even Paul and Amanda found themselves fascinated by the wondrous and almost magical scene.

Eric's broad smile stretched between his ears and lit up his once saddened eyes. "You know what...Billy was right."

* * *

Billy's eye lids lazily fluttered open to see the evening skies overhead start to become swallowed by threatening storm clouds. Where was he? He forced his head over to the side to see Pet's form laying nearby. He reached out to her and rested a hand on her shoulder. She was still feverish. "Hey...Nica." After no response, he gently shook her. "Nica, wake up."

She was unresponsive and it brought a level of concern to the man. He knew it wasn't uncommon for her to be unresponsive during severe episodes of her illness and tried to keep that forward in his mind. He refused to think of the worst case. He kept a close watch on her, looking to see if she was even breathing. Because she was face down in the sand, he couldn't tell.

Billy grunted and groaned as he forced himself to sit upright. He knew he should be in more pain than this and figured he had been given a pain reliever of a sort from the first aide kit. When he got to thinking about it, he noticed most of his more serious wounds bandaged up and the bleeding reduced quite a bit if not completely on others.

He reached out to the hybrid's motionless form again and shook her a little bit more firmly. "Veronica, come on, get up."

A whimper was all he got in response to. Even just a mere whimper was enough to greatly relieve the man. At least she wasn't dead. Wait a minute, he just felt of her and learned she was still feverish. If she was dead, she wouldn't be _that_ warm to the touch. Way to go, dumb ass. The painkillers. He'd just blame it on the painkillers clouding his mind.

One thing couldn't be clouded, though; the knowledge that they needed to get their butts out of there. A storm looked like it was on its way and the last place he wanted to be was on the bank of an already churning river. He had to figure out a way on how to carry the woman without further hurting himself. Maybe he could carry her. As he recalled from past experiences, she wasn't that heavy. So he'd try that.

Billy shoved everything scattered about her backpack back inside and zipped it. Thankfully it was all dry, now, meaning less unnecessary weight to shoulder. He was about to retrieve his old shirts, but what was the point in keeping them? They were stained and ripped up. No sense in keeping them and he decided to leave them.

Just when he got one of the bag's straps on, he realized that was a bad move. The pain tearing across his back quickly reminded him of the Pteranodon when it tried to pick him up. That wasn't going to happen and he sat the bag back down. Carrying Pet probably wasn't the best idea or move, either, seeing how the strain on his back might possibly further injure him. Could he drag her, instead?

Dragging her by her hands and or feet seemed too caveman like and barbaric. She had just saved him, for God's sake. The most he could do was take it easy on her. Look at her! She was sick and unresponsive! Not to mention bruised up and scrapped up, pretty badly. Next came another concern; dinosaurs. Should they be found, what would he do? He was pretty positive yelling at it to go away wouldn't work. He'd need a weapon of a sort, like a spear or a...machete.

Pet had been toting around a machete. Did she still have it with her? Billy gently rolled the hybrid over, her whimpering, when looking for the desired item. It was still there and fastened to her belt. He hastily reached for her belt buckle to undo it when morals kicked it. It felt wrong doing this. He was about to undo her belt while she was unconscious. It just felt so wrong.

The junior scientist deeply inhaled. "You're getting the machete, Billy, not undressing her." Why was that so hard? Mustering himself together, he retrieved the machete and its sheath as quickly as possibly. "Sorry, babe...not trying to..." Why was he talking to her? She wasn't even awake!

Whatever. He needed to get out of there. But then came the arising question of how he was going to drag her without hurting her. His gaze shifted over to a nearby, leafy tree branch well within his reach. Bingo.

* * *

**So close to what I've been so anxiously eager to get to...so...close...Lolz that what she said.**


	187. Permitted to Live Because Reasons

**So I'm trying something new with this chapter...a new point of view from a new audience. Wasn't quite sure how to go with it so I just...went with it? If that makes any sense...**

* * *

**187 - Permitted to Live Because Reasons**

One raptor. Two raptors. They emerged from the river bank's foliage, following a familiar scent they had been tracking. But there was another scent in the area they got wind of. The strange one. _That_ had been there. Three raptors. Four raptors with the arrival of the recovery pack's female. The first male chirped and squawked at her while she sniffed the air. The egg stealer had been there. She followed the scent she had picked up and over to series of unrecognizable items laying in the dirt nearby.

They were Billy's discarded shirts and they reeked highly of his scent from his blood.

The raptors realized he was injured and weak, knowing it'd be easy to take him out. There was another scent along with the egg stealer's. The strange one was with him, meaning a possible tricky encounter. A series of low pitched chirps came from the female.

The males understood. They recalled the strange one's edge of challenge when approached with another member of her pack, who too was an egg stealer. The raptors knew the two had to be their pack's alpha male and female and there was a certain level of respect to that. They remembered the strange one from times in the past. She'd stay clear of their territory and away from them and they her. On seldom occasions would she venture into their territory, but would soon leave without further confrontation. Then she was gone for a while.

And yet, this same strange one was back and allowing her pack to steal their young. The four raptors continued to chirp and squawk to the others. They had to find their eggs and in a final decisions, pressed on in tracking down the scent they knew would lead them to injured one and the strange one.

* * *

Thunder rolled throughout the thickening cloud cover overhead. Night had settled in and with it, the worry that kept Billy scared. Was he being followed? He just knew he was being followed. Paranoia. That's all it was. He nor Pet no longer had the eggs in their presence so there was no incentive for the raptors to follow them, right? Everything was fine. They'd be fine. They just needed to push on. The coast couldn't be that far away. Could it?

Billy glanced down at the hybrid laying on the leafy sprigs of a slightly medium sized tree limb he had been carrying. He wished she was awake or at least lucid enough to ask for directions. He needed to take a break and debated on stopping for the night or continuing on. The painkiller he had been given was starting to wear off, now, as he became more aware of what wound was where.

He drug the hybrid to the edge of the forest and river bank and gently laid the branch down. He then sat down beside her and felt of her face. Still feverish. He tried to lean against a tree, but the pain at his back was too much. So he laid down, instead, and on a side not too uncomfortable to be on. He kept his watch on the heavily breathing woman and frowned. If only there was a way he could help her more.

* * *

Down the river the specimen transport barge traveled, everything dreadfully quiet around them. Chirping. No ringing. The satellite phone's ringer. Oh no. Last time the ringer was heard, it was in the gut of the Spinosaur.

Paul shut off the boat's engine to better hear the ringing. It was close and now loud enough to wake Amanda and Eric sleeping soundly against the other within the cage. Everyone got to their feet and cautiously approached the barge's side railing. A part of each of them knew the dinosaur would be there to personally greet them both, only to find...Was that poop? Large piles of fresh animal dung were ringing. Wait, how was it still ringing after being eaten and then digested through a dinosaur's gut?

Grant's eyes widened. There was still a chance to get out of this situation. "Find it before it stops ringing!"

The people jumped overboard and waded through the water to the riverbed. They traced the source of the ring to one of the large piles. "Its over here," announced Paul, kneeling beside one of the rancid piles.

Grant couldn't believe he was about to do this and grimaced in disgust, diving his hands in. If Pet were there, he could only imagine the unethical and poor in taste jokes she would have to say. How she knew Cooper was a shitty person, came into mind. Or maybe he was thinking that. He felt something. Was that a watch? Paul was horrified. A femur? Amanda didn't want to ask. Aviator sunglasses. She tossed them aside and reached back into the warm, sloshing- Her hands hit a solid object.

She called out to the others. "I found it!" She extracted it from the pile, Grant quick to snatch it from her and answer it.

"Hello?" _What_? An advertisement? What the hell kind of shit was this? He looked at the source of the putrid smell before him, realizing what he had just thought. He had been hanging around Derek too long.

Movement from the brush ahead got Eric's attention, him seeing a rusty brown colored dinosaur come into view. "Look out!"

Grant and the Kirbys sat perfectly still, afraid of what the approaching dinosaur was about to do. It took one sniff of the three and groaned a growl, trudging back the way it came into the forest.

The three people were offended. Genuinely offended. A dinosaur didn't want to attack them. What did they do to deserve being shrugged off and ignored for the first time since crashing there? Paul furrowed his brow in thought and looked down at the dung pile. Oh.

He spoke. "Guess he thought we'd be a crappy meal."

Amanda sighed. "Really Paul?" The two people looked to the other, the man shrugging.

Grant wasn't sure to laugh or smack the man upside the head. "Come on, let's get back on the boat and get out of here. These piles are still fresh, meaning the dinosaur that made them not far off."

They climbed back on the boat and left, Grant working on trying to clean the phone.

* * *

A loud crack of thunder and a quick strobe of lightning shook Billy awake. He had inadvertently fallen asleep. What a great help he was. A dinosaur could've come up and attacked them and they'd never know until it was too late. Light pelts of rain started to dot his skin, him knowing it was about to get a lot worse.

Being under a tree would at least help in breaking some of the rainfall. Or so he thought. Within a matter of 10 minutes, such was not the case. He sat there, completely drenched yet again, and sighed. He at least hoped the cool of the rain would help break the hybrid's fever. So Billy sat there, eyes closed and head leaned back to enjoy the relaxing cool of the rainwater against the heat of his irritated wounds.

A stick snapped somewhere behind him. Billy's eyes slowly opened and his grip around the machete's handle tighten. Something told him this was about to get bad. Heavy breathing. He knew that sound. Pet made that sound when angry. But this wasn't from the hybrid. This was from a raptor.

Subtle rustling in the bushes startled him. He could feel his heart racing and frantically pounding in his chest, now. Breathing was painful and felt like breathing through a coffee straw. His breath, however, caught in his chest when finding himself staring into the eyes of a raptor. Another followed the first and before Billy knew it, he and Pet were encircled by the encroaching predators.

Billy swung the machete out in front of him to keep the raptors at a distance while trying to shake the hybrid awake. "Wake up, Veronica. We've got company. Come on, wake up...do your little dino whoop ass trick." He wouldn't stop shaking her. The female approached the horrified man, hissing. "_Get back!_" Again, Billy sung the machete out and almost striking one of the males across its snout. "Back! _Back! Go away!_"

A male approached the two, the female hissing a bark at it. The male obliged and recoiled a bit. The female dug her sickle claws into the sand and leaned in to sniff of the injured target. He was weak, but she sensed fierce aggression from him. He would fight if he had to. Her golden yellow eyes darted to the motionless hybrid, still unconscious. The female had smelt that distinct odor of sickness before from other prey and knew to stay clear of it.

She snorted a hiss to the others and started to back away, but one of the males wasn't about to give up that easily. It went for the injured one, hissing and screeching. Billy swung out at it, the wind from the tip of the machete's blade breezing past the raptor's face. Again, the junior scientist swung out and had it not been for the dinosaur rearing its head back, it would've been a definite hit.

Again and again the dinosaur tested the other's boundaries while the other two males listened to the female. A deep throat growl like hiss from the female finally halted the male's provoking Billy.

Other than an easily kill, the two people provided nothing for the raptors. They wanted their eggs. Not a meal that could make them sick. The female bolted back into the forest, two of the three males following suit. The third screeched a bark in protest before too, leaving the scene. Billy and Pet were alone, again, but that didn't mean he was about to let down his guard. He needed to get out there.

He knew there was a good chance the raptors would return and didn't want to stick around for their next episode of bedside manners. Not quite feeling rested enough, but better than before, Billy took hold of the leafy branch Pet was laying on and continued onwards.


	188. At A Boy Charlie

**188 - At A Boy, Charlie**

Mark Degler finished tightening his tie and adjusted his smoky grey shirt's collar afterwards. He looked to his wife, Ellie, smearing cream cheese on a bagel and smiled. "You know, you don't have to make me anything to eat for breakfast."

Ellie smiled up at him with those warm and brilliant blue eyes, curtained by her blond tresses. "I know." She set the bagel half down on a napkin and reached into the toaster for the second. "But you and I both know that morning traffic can be outrageous and there's no guarantee you'll be able to stop by the coffee shop before work." She took another modest scoop of cream cheese onto the butter knife and started smearing it. "Remember last time you told me not to worry with breakfast?"

Mark nodded and reached for his brief case resting on a chair by the dining table. "Oh yeah. I didn't get to eat anything until almost noon!" He shook his head. "Damn, that was a busy day."

Charlie looked up from his slurping over a bowl of Fruity Pebble cereal. "Daddy said a bad word."

Both Ellie and Mark giggled, the woman nodding her head. "Yes, Daddy did say a bad word." Mark, wearing a rather huge smile, hung his head low and held out a hand to Charlie. The little boy gave it a smack. "He showed you."

The man nodded and gave a wink to his wife, sliding the napkin to the man. He picked up one of the bagels and took a hefty bite out of it, making sure to swallow it before speaking. "So, we still on for dinner tonight?"

Ellie nodded. "As far as I know."

"Great."

Charlie patted past the two and sat his bowl on the kitchen counter. "That's not where that goes," Ellie gently scolded.

The little boy looked up at her with puppy dog eyes. "I can't reach the sink. I'm too little."

Both parents broke out in laughter, cries from a baby sounding from the other room. Mark took another bite of his bagel as Ellie rushed into the living room. She it was coming. It was only a matter of time and could smell it before she even got to the little ball of cuteness. Just not that cute at that particular moment.

Mark had Charlie by the hand and was leading him into the living room. The man started waving at his face from the stench. "Whoa, that's a bad one."

Ellie cocked a brow and smirked. "Care to do the honors?"

"Nope. Nope, that's absolutely fine." He reached for a TV remote on the back of the couch and turned on the TV. At first, it was a weather report but after flipping through the channels, found something more kid oriented. "There you go, buddy. Barney! You like Barney, huh?" Charlie nodded. "Alright! Well, you just stay here and watch TV while Mommy finishes changing sissy and Daddy finish his breakfast. Okay?" Charlie nodded again. Mark patted his son on the head and went back into the kitchen.

By the time Ellie had finished changing the baby, her husband was done with breakfast and getting ready to leave. He had his car keys in one hand and briefcase in the other. "Here, I'll walk you out to the car. Just let me put her back in her swing." Ellie saw Charlie twisting and dancing to Barney on the TV and smiled. "You be good, okay?" The boy didn't answer or acknowledge his mother as he started spinning around in circles.

Ellie rejoined her husband and followed him outside. "Just to double check, dinner reservations at the restaurant are at 7:30 tonight, correct?"

Mark nodded. "Mhm. Karen and Alex are supposed to be there, too."

"Ugh. Why does she have to be there? I can't stand hearing her talk about her cat like its the only thing in the world."

The two people across the patio and towards the navy blue Lincoln parked behind her sky blue hatchback. "Well to her, her cat is all she has."

"I wonder why."

"Honey..." Mark unlocked his car and stopped shy of getting in. "Did the girl across the street say she'd watch the kids?"

Ellie nodded. "Yes. I'm dropping them off before I leave."

"Good." He leaned in to kiss his wife. "Have a good day. Call me if you need anything."

"Other than just finishing up this current book project, I can't think of anything going on today."

Mark smiled. "Never know. Stuff happens." With that, he slid into the driver's seat of the car and sat his briefcase down in the passenger seat.

Ellie watched him back out of the drive way and waved before turning to go back inside. That's when she came across Charlie coming outside, the house phone in his hand. "Who's on the phone?" She bent down to pick up her son.

"The dinosaur man."

"He is?" She checked the caller ID on the phone to see UNKNOWN NUMBER stare back at her. Why would he be calling this early in the day? And why was he calling from an unknown number? "Alan?" Nothing. Apparently he had hung up. Time to call the number back and she dialed 69. The phone started to ring and did so for several minutes.

The man's desperate voice filled the other line. "Ellie, listen to me!"

She could barely make out what he was saying. She was mostly hearing a lot of loud banging around and noises in the background. "Are you on a call phone? I can't hear you." But she could hear roaring. Was Pet fighting with Derek again? That wasn't Pet's roaring. She didn't sound like that. She more shrilled and barked than roared. What was going on?

"The river! Site B! The river!"

Anything else he had to say was cut off by garbling. "Hello?" The phone cut out from the other end. Something had happened.

Charlie started growling and roaring and making his scary dinosaur face. Roaring. Loud noise in the back ground. Site B. Isla Sorna? _Had he gone to Isla Sorna_? She quickly started calling someone she knew would probably have answers.

* * *

Derek stood in the kitchen and flipped over an omelet in the skillet. In doing so, it broke apart. Terrence snorted a laugh and shook his head. "Smooth move, _Chef_."

"Hey, screw you, I just woke up, okay?"

"Likely excuse. I'm sure all those shots of Jack Daniels Tennessee Fire from last night has nothing to do it, huh?" He laughed when the kitchen towel was thrown at him.

Muldoon sighed in annoyance. In the back bunk room, he could hear their satellite phone start to ring. All three men looked to each other in question. No one called that phone unless an emergency.

Derek watched his uncle rush to the back room, not a word said. The two men left in the living area of the trailer sat quietly, listening to what was being said. "Ellie? What's wrong? Site B? The only Site B I can think of is Isla Sorna." Derek and Terrence stared at the other in horror. "Yeah. Dr. Grant, his assistant and Pet went down there a couple days back for some business proposition. Something about flying around the island for some rich couple's anniversary." Derek knew something wasn't right and turned off the stove. He and Terrence went into the back bunk room to see what was going on. "Alright. Got it. On my way."

Muldoon hung up the phone and turned to look at Derek, who questioned. "What's going on?"

"Hurry up and get your shit. The others are in trouble."

The men didn't need to be told twice and fervently got all their stuff. Derek announced. "I know someone who can get us down there and ASAP. Just let me make a quick phone call."


	189. Found At Last

**I've been itching and dying to post this chapter. Squee OMG giggle. Hope everything fits in well and nothing 'wrong' as far as my building on a certain character goes.**

* * *

**189 - Found At Last**

Three hours out from Costa Rica and Simon Masrani was fast asleep. The cabin lights within his company's Gulf Steam G650 were dimmed and his seat back fully reclined. He wasn't asleep for long, however, when the plane's business phone started ringing. He cracked an eye open and debated on answering it or not.

Sighing, he forced himself to sit up and lazily answered it. "Yes?" He rubbed at his eyes and furrowed his brow. "What do you mean the U.S. Navy and Marines have been called to the island? Who called them? What's going on?" He intently listened to the information being said from the other person on the opposite end of the phone. "Whoa, slow down. Did you just say Alan Grant? He's on the island...Why is he on the island? Who else is with him?" Simon brought a hand to his mouth in being blind sided by surprise. "Where's that stand by security team? En route? As soon as they land, I want to know! Have a helicopter ready for when I get there. And get me in contact with the military person in charge of this!"

* * *

Billy couldn't go on. Dawn was on the rise and he physically couldn't go on anymore. He dropped to his knees and allowed his body's weight to sink into the soft sand beneath. His head was spinning and he felt dizzy all over. Just a small break to allow for rest and he'd finish his trek to the coast, however far that was. But sleep had another plan for him and he passed out.

* * *

Finally in Costa Rica, an Agusta A109A helicopter waiting near where the plane had taxied to. Standing outside was a suited man with glasses, hands folded before him. "Mr. Simon Masrani?"

The addressed man nodded and ducked his head when approaching the helicopter, its rotors spinning. "Yes?"

"Chris Bell from the U.S. Department of State." The suited gentlemen outstretched his hand to the awaiting aircraft. "Come aboard, sir, and we'll take you to a Naval ship headed towards the island for survivor extraction."

"Excellent." The two men boarded the helicopter, it lifting off as soon as the two people were buckled in. "Has anything else been heard from the survivors?"

Chris shook his head. "No. Search and Rescue teams from the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marines are being assembled, as we speak. So as soon as they're within deployment range of the island, they can be dispatched."

"I already have a team from my company assembled. They were supposed to be on stand by, here in Costa Rica."

"Yes, sir, we encountered them shortly before your arrival. They've been sent to join with one of the military extraction teams."

Long, grueling minutes crept by. Minutes neared ever closer to the hour mark. He was so close to her. He just knew it. Simon couldn't sit still the entire helicopter ride and kept nervously fidgeting with his hands.

Chris, seated across the helicopter, curiously watched him. "Not nervous, are you?"

Dark eyes were cut down on the other man. "Depending on what is found on that island may or may not make this a controlled situation."

Chris arched a brow in curiosity. "We're recovering a group of survivors from an island overran with dinosaurs, Mr. Masrani. What part of this situation isn't already controlled, enough?"

"That depends on who is still left alive. If she's even present, to begin with."

Something about the way that last bit was said made Chris's hairs stand on end. "Sir?"

"Just know this, Mr. Bell, there are certain things that were created years before my taking control of InGen. You do know what InGen is, right?"

The other man nodded. "Well, yeah...they specialize in genetics."

"Good." Simon's expression was impassive. "Now keep that in mind. Whatever you see on that island is to _not_ be discussed with anyone. Should you or anyone involved in this operation speak of what's seen, the weight of my company's legal team will crush whatever lawyers you think can handle it. Do I make myself clear?"

Chris gulped and nodded. "Absolutely." A Naval ship came into view, the helicopter starting to descend. "A Naval team will be joining us in our trip to the island should we need their assistance."

"As long as they understand the level of confidentiality should the person in question be found."

The other man nodded and as soon as the helicopter touched down, de-boarded the plane. He scampered over to a ranking military soldier and cupped his hands around the other's ear to be heard over the helicopter's rotor. Standing before him were three other men. The forward most soldier nodded in understanding and he pointed to two of the tactical geared soldiers. They parted and ran to join another helicopter while the soldier pointed to the last and motioned him to follow. Chris was urged to follow them, him regretfully doing so.

The two Navy men got into the aircraft Simon was in, the commanding team leader introducing himself. Since hearing anything over the helicopter's rotors was damn near impossible, all Simon got out of the introduction was the other's last name and that was because it was displayed on his uniform. Coleman.

This guy looked like someone who had been around and experienced some things. Simon felt a bit relieved to have someone like this around. As for the other guy...The other soldier's last name read Grady. He appeared to be in his early 20s with dirty blonde hair just visible beneath his helmet.

His green eyes shifted to the observing wealthy man seated across the helicopter, his gaze stern and just as skeptical as the others. Simon spoke. "You look as though just a kid. What is your name?"

The seaman answered. "Grady, sir."

Simon waved a dismissing hand in the air. "No need for the sir, and I mean your first name."

"Owen."

"Ah. How many rescue missions have done?"

The team commander answered. "He's done enough to earn my trust and my trust isn't too easily given. Don't worry, sir. Grady, here, is tougher than he looks." Coleman gave a strong clap on the shoulder to the much younger soldier, Grady clenching his jaw in anger. He really hated it when someone did that. It always felt so mocking and demeaning.

Simon saw another helicopter, with its side doors open, outside a window and noticed it carried his requested team. Hopefully they got the news. A minute later, they broke off from the first helicopter to fly Westward.

The co-pilot called from the front of the aircraft, "The second chopper is heading to the crash site. They're going to report back with their findings after they search the area."

Simon nodded to the co-pilot and deeply exhaled a breath he had been holding. He was tingling with anticipation. So close. The coast of the island filled the front windshield, the wealthy man unable to contain he amounts of anxiety bursting within him.

Grady huffed to himself. "Relax, Mr. Masrani. We're going to do a full coastal sweep. We know what we're looking for, sir. When something is found, you'll know when we do."

Sure enough, just as the young solider had stated, the helicopter buzzed along the coast line. The mouth of a river was found in their passing. Again, the co-pilot announced to the passengers. "We're going to circle the island, first, then start searching down the rivers."

Not good enough for Simon, but there wasn't much he could do. He looked to the commanding team leader. "Just make sure your men or any other, for that matter, do not harm any animals they find. Use tranquilizers first before using heavy weaponry."

The commander snorted a laugh. "They'll do what is necessary to protect themselves or anyone else in harm."

More endless minutes. A tightness had settled in Simon's chest and he wasn't sure how long he'd be able to contain himself. The co-pilot nodded and turned around to yell back at the passengers. "The other chopper found the downed aircraft. It doesn't look good. Its a wonder how anyone survived that, from what I'm being told." Simon frowned. "We're swinging back around and towards that direction to check the coast there. There's a river we want to inspect."

"Very well," was all the wealthy man had to say and to the river mouth they went.

* * *

Thunder. Distant thunder. Not again. Billy painfully strained his eyes open to see a dark cloud looming overhead, strong wind rushing over his body. No. That wasn't thunder. The dark cloud became larger and more defined. It was a helicopter. Muffled voices filled his throbbing ears. He had been found. They had been found.

Grady looked to the civilian passenger. "Stay in here, sir." He grabbed a medical bag laying on the floor of the helicopter and rushed to follow his team commander.

The co-pilot could be heard reporting over the radio. "We have two bodies, both appear unresponsive. One is a Caucasian male and the other a female."

Coleman checked the pulse of the badly injured male. "I've got a pulse. This one is still alive!" He gave a thumbs up to the pilots and looked to Grady. "What about the woman?" But he couldn't stop staring at the disfigurement of the other. What was wrong with her? Coleman reached over to check her pulse, it weak. "The female is alive, too." Another thumbs up.

Simon choked out a gasp in disbelief. There she was, laying in the dirt and not moving. Ignoring the order he had been given by the soldier, he erupted from the helicopter. "This is now a matter of strict confidentiality! I want her on this aircraft and given immediate medical care!"

Coleman looked to his team mate. "Get the female out of here. I'll keep a watch on this one until the second chopper gets back."

Grady nodded. "Yes, sir." He took a knee and carefully began picking her up. Back to the helicopter he ran, shoving past the other man. "Come on! We have to get back to the ship!"

Simon more than obliged and was at the younger man's heels. The young woman was cautiously laid on a gurney as the soldier tried to wake her up. He couldn't get over it. There she was. _There she was_. His vision started to blur, him unsure why until a tear streamed down his face.

He whispered to himself, "I found you...my little enigma. I found you, Pet."

* * *

**Okay, I couldn't help myself when tossing Owen into this. I just made perfect sense! As mentioned in Jurassic World, he was in the Navy at one point. And unless mistaken, there's no mention of what he did. If it was mentioned or if someone does know, please please let me know so I can correct it. Looking on Park Pedia Wiki, I only saw mention of his being in the military but again, no specific mention to what he did. Seeing how he comes off as the survivor, knows how to handle himself type I figured a search and rescue type career field worked well.**

**Again, I couldn't help myself. If I see an opportunity to build on something, I'm going to do it! If I am at all in any wrong with this chapter and my assumptions, please feel free to correct me. I have no issues going back and fixing mistakes...**


	190. Courtesy of the US Navy and Marines

**190 - Courtesy of the U.S. Navy and Marines**

"Veronica!" Grant anxiously paced around while the Kirbys sat to themselves, not too far away. He kept calling out to the hybrid, knowing, just knowing she had to be around there somewhere. "Veronica!" He was beginning to feel a little bit more of his hopes dwindle to ashes. He hung his head low and shuffled through the sand. It was time to get moving. They had been waiting around in the area long enough. "Mr. Kirby?"

Paul obliged and collected his family, them joining Grant.

The four of them pressed on through the forest as the morning sun was becoming brighter. Well, at least bright enough to pierce the veils of fog lingering around the forest floor. A low, repetitive rumble sounded in the distance. At first, there was concern it was the low sounding foot steps of the Spinosaur. Closer listening revealed otherwise.

"You hear that?"

Eric heard it, too, and got excited. "Its the ocean!"

He took off running towards the source of the sound, his parents and the scientist following behind. Suddenly, their path was block by a screeching male raptor. The other two males joined the first, their talons armed at the ready as they bore their jaws of sharp teeth.

Grant remembered a similar situation like this before, being surrounded by angry raptors, and knew there wouldn't be a T-Rex to storm onto the scene this time. Or would there? Oh please not the Spinosaur.

The man drew the family of three closer to him. "They want the eggs. Otherwise, we'd be dead already."

Squawking from a fourth raptor sounded over a hill, it being the alpha male. Squawking from a fifth revealed the alpha female, her animalistic eyes set on Grant.

She could smell the eggs in the vicinity of the trapped pack and identified the forward most male figure of them as the alpha male. The strange one's mate. She hissed a screech. This time, the strange one wouldn't be there to save him or the others and her own pack needed to feed. What better way to reward them for their helping her track down the eggs than to let them feed on the egg thieves? They all seemed fairly well off for good eating. Well, other than the hatchling trying to hide behind the lesser female.

Grant began to take a knee, recognizing the raptors' behavior. "Everybody get down. She's challenging us." He carefully slid the backpack off his shoulders, eyes staying on the female slowly closing in on them. She was nearly dangerously close to Amanda and hissing in warning. "She thinks you stole the eggs."

Paul crept up behind Amanda, quietly stating, "Get behind me." But the female raptor's blood freezing hiss of a screech sent him recoiling.

She began to sniff of Amanda, the woman wanting to scream and run at the same time. But she new doing so wouldn't result in the best of endings for her. She continued to stay her ground, petrified in place. A sharp shriek of a squawk made Amanda come to terms with what needed to be done.

She softly stated with a hint of a growl, "Give me the eggs."

Grant already had the camera bag withdrawn from his backpack and the bag open. He drew back the lid of it, causing a male raptor to rear up and bark out. The other males joined it in barking out. They were calling for more. How many more were in the area? Grant would rather not find out and withdrew the eggs from the concealment of the bag. Then he saw it. The Velociraptor resonating chamber Billy had created using the rapid proto typer. An idea ran through his head.

Grant passed off the eggs to Amanda with shaking hands and reached into the bag for the item of interest. He began thinking of the sounds Pet would make, him trying to mimic a growl.

The raptors perked up in surprise. The strange one's mate was sounding an awfully a lot like her. The pack's alpha male was growling at them and it was making them a bit uneasy. They began squawking and shrieking amongst themselves. Should they attack?

Paul cut in. "No, no...Call for help."

So Grant did. One of the male raptors was about to attack, but the female stopped him with a strict hiss of a shriek. Nothing was getting attacked until the eggs were safe. A low, distant rumbling somewhere over the trees grew louder. What did this strange one call for? So far, this pack had been unpredictable and rather intelligent in their ways, making the female raptor not want to chance anything. She chirped to the other three males to run, leaving just her and her mate behind. She leaned down and tenderly collected one of the eggs in her toothed jaws, the male doing the same. She gave the strange alpha male a deep eyed glare and sprinted off, the male behind her.

Grant and the Kirbys listened to the familiar sound come ever closer. Paul got to his feet. "That's a helicopter!" He lead the charge through the forest and to the coast, where a suited man stood.

Chris Bell saw the people and smiled to himself. He raised a bullhorn and called out to them. "Dr. Grant? Dr. Alan Grant?"

Oh, the memories that brought back. The four people ran towards him, all simultaneously shouting, "That's a very bad idea!"

But they were soon taken back by the unexpected show of military force making landfall. Three specialized vehicles made landfall as helicopters circled the shore. Eric was wildly impressed. "You have to thank her now. She sent the _Navy and the Marines!_"

Grant could laugh in relief. "God bless you, Ellie."

Chris approached the group, smiling at the people. "Excellent! So glad you and your companions are still alive! There were doubts, but hey! You pulled through!" A helicopter touched down off to the side of where the gathering of people were, Chris gesturing to it. "Come on! Get on." He assisted Eric onboard and when seeing the scientist, pointed off to the side where a gurney was. "Dr. Grant, is this man with you?"

Grant could barely hear what was being said. "What?" But followed the outstretched arm's aim to see Billy. He was alive! The crazy son of a bitch was alive! If he was alive, that meant Pet was too.

Billy, feelings tons better now he was on some good pain killers, smiled. "You made it." Grant could hug his protégé right then. "I rescued your hat."

The senior scientist looked up to see his treasured item and wasn't sure what to say. He accepted it and nodded, unable to stop the powerful smile uplifting his features. "Well, that's the important thing." He glanced around the helicopter. "Where's Nica?"

Billy's smile faded a bit. "I don't know. They took her."

"What? Who took her?"

"The military..."

Chris called out to the scientist. "Can I get you to sit here and buckle up, sir?"

He'd go up there, but not to sit down. He wanted to have a word with the suited man. "Was there a woman with him?" The look that passed over the other man's face wasn't what Grant wanted to see. "Where is she?" He had been ordered by Mr. Masrani to not discuss anything pertaining to the woman's recovery to anyone not cleared by him first. Chris gulped. Flashes of impatience and anger filled Grant's eyes. "Where is Veronica? Where is my fiancé?"

"Uh..." Chris was beginning to feel a little hot under the collar. "All survivors recovered are to be taken to safety for medical treatment."

* * *

**And so finally ends the JP3 content. Now, to clean up the 'mess' left over from it and start the way leading to Jurassic World! :D Though the events of Jurassic World will be some ways off...**


	191. Dr Grant vs Mr Masrani

**I'll admit, this was a tough chapter to come up with. Its far from the original version I initially came up with back when early on in the JP3 chapters. Since then, I had I got to thinking and rethought this anticipated confrontation. I'm still not sure if a bit out of character for either or, but I like to think I justified the reasoning behind the actions...After I just went with what came to mind, things started getting fun to write. So here it is! Enjoy!**

* * *

**191 - Dr. Grant vs Mr. Masrani**

Simon watched the still unconscious hybrid lay motionless in the bed. A heart monitor, blood pressure cuff, oxygen mask and IV were hooked up to the woman while a Naval medical technician ran a blood test somewhere else within the ship. Access to the woman was strict and heavily enforced. No one was allowed in the room without his personal approval and so far, that list was rather small. Outside the medical room was an armed, military guard.

The hybrid looked so weak and vulnerable as she laid there. Simon took a step closer to the woman and with a shaking hand, gently touched her hand. His eyes watered up again and though usually bothered by such outward displays of emotion, didn't care. Not anymore. Why wasn't she waking?

A knock came at the closed hatch, Simon side stepping to it to answer. It was the medical technician. She gave a sympathetic look to the man. "Still here, huh?"

Simon nodded. "Yes. You expected otherwise?"

The technician, who's name tag pinned to her scrubs read Kyle, continued. "I ran tests on the blood samples a few times. Comes to find out, she has contracted something and probably from the island. Chances are, she became infected from a bite or a-"

"She didn't contract it on the island," the man curtly corrected. "She was born with it." Kyle stared at the man. "Its not contagious, though. Well, as long as she doesn't bite or scratch anyone while the illness is active."

"Active?"

"I have a Dr. from my company on his way to Costa Rica, now."

Kyle nodded in understanding. "Understood. Just get with the captain on how you're wanting this to be handled, given the level of sensitivity of the situation."

"He's already been informed." Simon forced out a half smile. "I am a proactive man, Miss Kyle. I know what I need to do and when to get the results I desire."

The technician nodded. "I wish every man I had met was like that."

Dark eyes of the watchful, wealthy man gave a quick observation to the lack of a ring on the woman's finger. Judging from what she had said on top of no ring, she must have back luck in relationships.

Another knock came at the door. It was Kyle who answered it this time. A frantic looking Chris was at the door, face washed of any healthy color. He panted and frowned. "Mr. Masrani...Dr. Grant is on board and demanding to see the woman."

Simon arched a brow. "Demanding?"

Chris nodded. "He's being seen by a medic, at the moment, but it being rather difficult about it. He's rather insistent to see his fiancé."

"Fiancé? Well that explains a lot." Simon gave a final look to Pet and reluctantly left her side. "Tell me, where can I find this gentleman?"

* * *

Grant glared angrily at the Marine standing post within the medical evaluation room he was being kept in. He felt like a caged animal and didn't like it. A gentle tapping of knuckles against the examination room's door drew ire to the scientist. If it wasn't Pet, he didn't want to talk to them. He didn't care.

The male medical tech stitching up a gash in his patient's right shoulder spoke. "That would be the Dr." He answered from over his shoulder. "Come on in."

Great. Another Dr. The door cracked open to reveal the last person Grant ever wanted to see or expected to be present; Simon Masrani. Deep running rage instantly turned into fear and he started to tremble where he sat. The med tech tied off the stitching and snipped the access threads.

Simon politely beamed. "Dr. Grant. I am gratefully relieved to-" A sharp punch to the face abruptly silenced him. He then felt the air be knocked out of his lungs upon impacting a nearby wall, the enraged scientist's hands at the collar of his suit coat.

"Where is she, you son of a bitch?!"

The Marine standing guard rushed to intervene, Simon stopping him in a calm tone of voice. "It's alright, it's fine. I can handle this."

His dark eyes remained locked on the intimidating ones of the angered man. He licked at a throbbing sting at his lower lip, tasting blood. Okay, now Simon was a bit ticked off but would remain as sincere as possible. He knew coming into the issue, pertaining to the hybrid and associated loved ones, would be sensitive ground.

For all those involved, he had to remain professional. "She's fine. Pet, is it?"

Grant tightened his grip around the man's collar. _No one_ called her that but certain people deserving that right. This man had no right. "So help me if you even think about harming her, I'll-"

"Relax, Dr. Like I said, she's resting. She has been given a sedative to help her sleep. Do not worry. She's in good hands." He brought a hand to the other's clutched at his suit coat. "Now if you will please, let me go." The Marine's hand was resting on his holstered pistol at his thigh.

Grant did as asked, reluctantly, and took a step back. The med tech was a little shaken and trying to keep composure of himself. "Sir, I'm going to need you to sit down so I can finish with treating your wounds."

The scientist allowed himself to be guided back to sit on the side of the medical bed, his eyes unblinking and glaring at the other man. Simon wiped at a trickle of blood from his busted lower lip and continued. "I never would've figured you a violent man, Dr. After everything I read about you in InGen's files and from what I gathered from your reputation, I mentally imagined this sincere man." The two men keenly studied the other. "Guess love and desperation has a funny way of changing a person."

One of Grant's eyes twitched in aggravation. "I'd more blame it on her being hunted down and willed dead by the same damned company that gave her life."

"Perhaps." Simon cautiously stepped closer to the man. "But since incorporating InGen within my own company, things have and will be different. The girl is under my protection and anyone who dares try to hurt her will regret the upmost of consequences."

"What are you going to do to her? Now that you have her..." Grant's voice lowered to an almost growl. "What do you plan to do with her?"

A sly smile upturned the man's bearded face, a flicker of something almost scheming in his coal like eyes. "Cure her, of course."

"How? When?" Grant flinched when a Q-tip with a cleanser brushed across the scratch on his left cheek.

"A geneticist who has been involved with the woman since her creation-"

"Jacobs," the scientist interrupted.

"Yes." Simon's brow furrowed. "You've met?"

Grant scowled. "Fortunately for him, not formally."

"Ah." He liked this guy! Simon smiled more broadly in knowing the hybrid had been in safe hands. "For the past while, he's been working to develop a type of cure for Pet-"

"Veronica. Her name is Veronica. Only people within her closest circle are allowed to call her Pet. You have no right."

Something passed over the wealthy man's face as though coming to realization. "Interesting," he breathed out to himself. His hand instantly went to a pants pocket, where a small flash drive could be felt. "Veronica, you said?"

Grant squared his eyes down on the questionable man. "I want to see her."

"And you will. I'm afraid it'll have to wait a little while, though." The look he was receiving from the opposite man let him know that wasn't what was wanting to be heard. "Once we are closer to the Costa Rican mainland, all the survivors will be flown to a hospital for further medical treatment. As for...Veronica...Dr. Jacobs is en route to Costa Rica with what we hope will be her cure. Once the treatments are started, access to her will be limited to essential personnel only."

Grant lowered his gaze down on the man. "And as for you? I guess you think yourself a part of that essential personnel only category?"

Simon withdrew his hand from his pocket to fold both his hands behind him when slowly pacing about the small room. "The girl is technically an employee of mine, seeing how she belongs to InGen. Because of, it is my responsibility to see to it all employee personnel under any banner beneath my company is provided for. So yes, Dr. Grant, I consider myself a part of that essential personnel. I understand your level of concern. I really do and commend your valiant efforts to keep her protected. But just know this. I'm not those other men who tried to hunt her down for the _wrong_ reasons. My intentions are nothing but what's best for her."

Grant winced at another sting, this one on his cut brow, and gave the med tech a stern stare down. The tech held up his hands to show he meant no harm, the scientist returning his gaze to the overly rich man standing not too far away.

"May I at least sit with Veronica before we arrive to the mainland?"

Simon shrugged. "Are you going to hit me, again, if I say no?"

Grant cocked an edgy, taunting smile. "Care to find out?"


	192. Further Confrontations

**192 - Further Confrontations**

Early night was beginning to settle over Costa Rica. Towering above a lit parking lot full of cars was a hospital, it becoming larger to a helicopter's occupants the more it descended. Derek cut his eyes down on a rather nervous looking Chris Bell, seated across the aircraft. "You're certain this is where Dr. Grant is?"

"Absolutely, sir. I received word from a representative that this is where the survivors were brought."

Derek rolled his eyes to his strict faced uncle sitting and staring, unblinking, at the Department of State official. There was no doubt the mutual thought on their minds. The helicopter gently touched down on the landing pad, Derek and Muldoon pushing Chris aside to get out.

They sprinted for the closest entrance to the hospital, Chris trailing behind them and calling after them. "Gentlemen...Gentlemen, please, if you'll stay with me I can take you to the others!"

Derek spun around and glowered at the man. "You've done enough. Just tell me the floor and room number and I'm sure we can find our way."

Chris straightened his posture and tugged at the base of his suit coat. "That might be so, but without my access neither of you will make it past the security."

Muldoon approaching the man made him recoil a bit. "Floor and room number."

"Very well. Don't say I didn't warn you, though," Chris tartly replied. "Go through the main doors at the front of the hospital and take the elevators to the right. Third floor, room 126."

With that, the two men bolted down the hallway to follow the other's directions. The official withdrew a cell phone from his pocket and hit a speed dial number. Barely two rings later, the line picked up. "Sir? They're here. Expect company in the next few minutes."

* * *

Simon nodded to himself. "Very well. Thank you for the head's up, Mr. Bell." He hung up the phone and turned away from a hospital room's window. He had been watching the helipad like a hawk and knew the moment the expected visitors went running into the hospital, things were about to get tense. The man turned to analyze Dr. Jacobs hovering over the still unconscious hybrid. "Well?"

Jacobs finished administering a syringe's contents into the woman's IV. "Just one more vial to go and then we sit and wait."

"How long until we find out if it'll work or not?"

Jacobs capped the empty syringe and reached for another sitting on a tray table. "The viraling process should start to affect her within a couple hours, give or take some minutes."

"And then?"

The geneticist shrugged. "We sit and wait."

"How will we know if its working?"

Questions, questions, questions. "Mr. Masrani, with all due respect, I-"

A knock interrupted Jacobs from continuing. A nurse native to the region poked her head into the room. "My apologies for interrupting, but there are two gentlemen wishing to see the patients recovered from the island."

Simon shot his eyes from Jacobs, to the nurse and back to Jacobs. "For the sake of your job, you had better hope this works." With that, he drew in a deep breath and left the room.

* * *

Those who had been recovered from the island were being held in the hospital overnight, except for Billy and Pet who were being held for longer. Grant knew he should be in his own room, resting, but couldn't. He had too much restless energy and was sometimes seen roaming the hallways wearing a set of scrubs he was borrowing. Since the hybrid was undergoing treatments, he wasn't allowed to be in the vicinity. So, where else to go but to check on his protégé.

Bruising had started to set in around the younger man's injuries, his face painted in shades of grey, blue and hints of green. Grant sighed. Had he not said the hurtful things he did pertaining to the eggs then his friend and assistant wouldn't be in the state he was in now. Guilt weighed heavily on the senior scientist.

His thought train was derailed, however, when he heard boisterous arguing in the hallway. Was that...Derek? It sounded an awfully a lot like him. This made Grant hastily get to his feet and rush outside into the hallway. Sure enough, there was Derek and his uncle being held back by a series of male and female nurses to keep them away from Simon.

Derek raged, "_What did you do to her_?!"

Grant rushed to the others to intervene. "Derek? Robert! Wha...What are you two doing here? How did you-" Never mind that.

Muldoon was seething. "What's this asshole doing here?"

"It's alright." The senior scientist looked between the two edgy men and over to the collected wealthy man. "He's here to help."

Derek continued. "I'm sure he is...straight to Pet's death." He stopped. "Shit. Wait, does he know about Pet?"

Muldoon hit his nephew upside the back of the head. "Would it hurt you to think before you speak, sometimes?"

Simon cut his eyes down on the younger of the three men and spoke as professional as possible, despite the obvious sarcasm in his voice. "Gentlemen. A pleasure to meet you all in person." He smiled as sincerely as he could.

Muldoon questioned to his nephew. "Do you still have your gun on you?"

Derek answered without hesitation. "Which caliber?"

Simon instantly recognized Muldoon from his InGen company employee files and assumed the younger man standing next to him was his nephew. So this was Derek, whom Jacobs had told him all about. "Dr. Jacobs told me about your little kidnapping him episode. And all because you wanted to find a cure for Veronica. I should press charges against everyone involved, but..." he sighed. "If it wasn't for what you did, there wouldn't be a cure. Thank you."

The door leading to Pet's hospital room opened, it being Jacobs. He took one look at Muldoon and Derek and yelped. Muldoon's eyes quickly started boring holes in the geneticist. Simon looked to the Dr. and back to the three men. "Might I suggest we discuss this in private?"


	193. An Unexpected Ally

**Here's my last chapter for now. There's still plenty more to write. Trust me lol I have 1/4 of chapter 194 in the works. 194 is looking to be entertaining and insightful. Not to mention, learning what's on that flash drive mentioned in chapter 191. Time for me to get ready for work. Enjoy the read!**

* * *

**193 - An Unexpected Ally**

Two days had passed, the Kirbys paying their last farewells to Grant and Billy prior to leaving. When apologies were given to Derek and Muldoon for what had happened, Derek didn't care. He still hit Paul in the face. The man could understand, though, and let it slide. Maybe one day forgiveness could be had.

Billy was on the mend and now up and walking around, more, which greatly relieved his friends. He even went to pay Pet a visit. He didn't stick around for very long, due to nurses having to come in and do a their hourly progress check. The sitting and waiting was becoming more and more mind numbing and painful. If only she would wake up.

* * *

Beeping. Steady, rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor filled the other wise quiet air of...where was she? Pet's face wrinkled up in a slew of mixed thoughts. A faint bark came from her in attempting to move. Sore. So sore. Her body, joints and muscles all burned in pain. That smell...What was that smell? She'd smelt it before. Antiseptics. The type of smell used in disinfecting...hospitals. She was in a hospital. No, no, no, no, no. She couldn't be here.

Again, Pet tried to sit up but a body wrack of pain tore through her and sent her back down. A whimper of a cry broke past her lips. The more she came to, the more she became aware of her surroundings and the miscellaneous monitors hooked up to her. She wasn't alone. Someone else was with her. Slowly, the hybrid forced her eyes open from their being tightly squeezed shut and tried to look through the dim light barely allowing any visibility.

Sure enough, just as she guessed, she was in a hospital and in her own room, too. Oh no! They knew...the Drs and nurses who had been treating her. They must've seen her feet, hands and her overall in general.

"Veronica?" Quietly came a man's voice. She had heard this voice before, but where?

Where was Allan? Was Billy alright? And what about the Kirbys? Eric? Damn her illness having to flare up when it did. "Alan?" Pet's voice was hoarse and barely above a whisper.

"Dr. Grant isn't here, at the moment. How are you feeling?"

Who was that? Who kept talking? Pet winced when turning her neck to focus on the accompanying person sounding from somewhere next to her bed. She squinted her eyes at the dark figure. "Who are you?"

"We'll get to that in a minute, my dear. I just want to make sure you're feeling alright."

Pet watched the figure, appearing as a tall shadow striding around the foot of her bed, and go to the other side. Slowly the darkness was filled with slightly brighter light the more a dial mounted on the wall was turned. This allowed the hybrid to finally get a good look at the stranger.

Instant horror and panic filled the hybrid when staring into the dark eyes of Simon Masrani. Despite the pain tearing through her every limb, Pet didn't care. She shrieked out loud and tried to get out of the bed, but the railing slowed her down. In her blind, frantic scrambling to try and escape an almost certain death, a strong pair of hands wrapped themselves around her upper arms to try and both restrain her and calm her.

"It's alright! I'm not going to hurt you!" Simon kept repeating himself, thankful the hybrid was in such a weak state or he'd be the one in a hospital bed. "Shh, shh, shh, its alright! I know what you're thinking, that I'm here to dispose of you like the others have tried, but I'm not."

He now had an arm wrapped around the front of her shoulders while his other hand remained around her arm housing an IV. Even though he had a reasonably well off hold on her, it didn't stop her from making that horrendous noise. Loud bark after bark filled the room, it loud enough to be heard down the hall.

The door to the room swung open followed by another man's voice, one Pet recognized. Robert. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" His anger was aimed at the wealthy CEO.

"Trying to convince her I mean no harm!"

Familiar, and all too welcomed, blue eyes came into the hybrid's view. "Let her go," Muldoon insisted and Simon did as so.

Pet fell out of the bed from over the railing when trying to get to her life long best friend and guardian. She hit the ground with a thud, the impact momentarily paralyzing to her right shoulder. The hybrid yelped and laid there only to find herself wrapped up in a comforting embrace.

The woman clung onto the person, unaware of the team of medical personnel rushing to check on her. Sudden movement from a couple nurses coming to her aide quickly got her attention and the already adrenaline amped hybrid shrieked out.

Muldoon held up a hand to the nurses to briefly halt them. "Easy, now. She's alright. Just shaken up." He redirected his attention to the woman tightly clutching onto him. "It's alright, Pet. You're alright." The two sat there on the cold floor, the man finally managing to calm the panicked hybrid after several minutes.

After seeing the patient was in no immediate need of emergency care, two of the three nurses left the room. Pet's raptor like eyes went from the two nurses standing against the back wall, looking obviously mortified, before finally settling on her dreaded visitor's dark eyes.

"What's he doing here," questioned the raspy woman.

Muldoon looked up to the man in question and answered. "Believe it or not, but he's actually here to help you." It more sounded as though he were trying to convince himself rather than the hybrid.

Slowly, Simon approached the two and took a knee to be more eye level with them. His gaze was solely focused on the raptor like ones staring at him in wide horror. He cautiously smiled, being mindful of the sickle like claws not too far from where he was. Though their owner was in a weakened state, she could still be dangerous with enough force placed behind the claws.

"I'm sure no introductions are needed?" No verbal response to the man came from Pet. He continued. "I have been searching quite a long time for you. Since taking over your father's company in 1998, to be exact."

He was so calm on the outside, never mind his racing heartbeat within his chest. Pet could smell traces of fear mixed in with his expensive cologne. She snorted in annoyance and squared her eyes down.

She growled a bark. "Why? To finish what two other people started? What two hunting parties couldn't?"

"Oh, no, no, no." He genuinely smiled and waved a dismissive hand. "I have been trying to find you to help you."

The words took the hybrid by surprise. "What? Exactly how are or were you planning to 'help' me?"

* * *

Now back within her bed, Pet had listened to everything the man had to say. It all sounded so surreal. "How do you know I'm cured?"

"Blood tests," Simon answered from where he stood on the left side of the bed. Muldoon was seated at the woman's right with her frail hand in his. "You've been unconscious for about 3 and a half days, now. The one following your emergency extraction from the island, and another two more when the viraling out your illness began. Dr. Jacobs was a bit skeptical on it-"

"Wait, Jacobs...as in, Albert Jacobs? The same Jacobs who tended to me in Kenya?"

Muldoon grumbled, "Unfortunately."

"But not to worry. Extensive blood tests have been concluded post procedure to monitor your progress. And yes," Simon began, a smile stretched across his bearded face, "You are...cured...of your inherited illness."

"How was I able to be cured now when I wasn't in Kenya? Or when working at the park?"

"It was just a matter of timing."

Something about the smile on his face and glint in his eye said to Pet there was more than what was being said. "Why go through all that...whatever it was...just to cure me? InGen has wanted me dead since the day I was created. No telling how much money was spent on teams, alone, to hunt me down."

"I'm not them," Simon answering coolly. "I assure you, the interests of Mr. Ludlow and Mr. Stevens are not my own." He could tell the hybrid was still untrusting of him, and he couldn't blame her.

Pet forced her attention off the man when hearing yet another familiar voice outside her door. "I want to see her," Grant could be heard when arguing with a nurse. The woman sat more upright in her bed, her whole alert being focused on the door. "I'm not leaving this room until I see my fiancé!"

The nurse answered back, "Only two visitors are allowed in the room at any one time!"

Simon and Muldoon looked to the other, both insistent on not leaving the room. The first had spent far too much time than he'd prefer looking for her as well as the time and money involved in finding the woman a cure. The latter, well...he saw no need in explaining himself to anyone. Muldoon's acidic blue eyes bored holes into the dark brown ones staring back at him.

Pet was oblivious to the two men glaring at the other. She never looked away from the door as she desperately stated, "I want to see him! Let him in!"

Simon's focus briefly shifted off the guardian figure for a second to observe the woman. He caved and gave a nod to Muldoon before turning to leave the room. The moment he opened the door to leave, Grant barged in whilst knocking the CEO out of the way. A part of him felt offended by the action, but when he saw the reunion between the two people, forgot all about it.

Pet was in tears and crying on her fiancé's shoulder just as he was hugging her tightly. Grant kissed the woman on the top of her head and allowed his own tears of joy to escape his eyes. Simon and Muldoon looked to each other, the ex-game warden nodding in a certain tone that the first understood as genuine gratitude.


	194. A New Level of Trust

**This chapter took me way too long to finally finish. Damn real life lol**

* * *

**194 - A New Level of Trust**

After two days of close observation post the viraling out procedure, Pet was cleared for release. Walking was a bit of challenge and her equilibrium off. A nurse insisted she take a wheel chair down to the front lobby, but the hybrid was determined to make it on her own. Well, the best she could anyway. Grant and Muldoon were both at her side, providing support to the weakened woman. The walk felt torturously long and Pet was beginning to wonder if she should've taken the wheel chair just to speed things up.

Billy opted for the wheelchair, as the pain killers he was on impaired him. Derek was pushing him and following along side his uncle and friends. He kept his tempered glare set down on the well dressed, billionaire striding next to Grant. Down the elevator and out, the group of 6 people went.

Double sliding glass doors leading outside the hospital hissed and rattled on their tracks, allowing Pet and those accompanying her to leave. The fresh air of Costa Rica was so much more inviting to deeply inhale versus the hospital's antiseptic filled air. Parked beneath the covered walkway was a limo with its chauffeur opening the back passenger door. Pet was naturally a bit hesitant to approach the vehicle.

Simon stepped past her and motioned towards her and the others to join him. "Come. I have a plane waiting not too far from here that will take us back to the states." He could see the other five people were not moving from where they stood.

Pet studied the man and gradually removed her grip from around Grant's arm. She approached Simon, one cautious step at a time. After a couple steps did Grant follow, joined by Derek, Billy and Muldoon. They all loaded into the limo, Pet seated against the back seat with her fiancé ever at her left side. Billy, appearing better than the previous day but still worse for wear, sat to her right. Derek sat on the right side seat while his uncle sat across from him. Seated at the more frontwards, rear facing back seat was Simon.

He knew he was receiving hateful glares from the four men, but his primary focus was on Pet. Though she didn't say anything the entire ride to the airport, there was still something in her eyes that reflected a certain level of gratitude towards the wealthy man. It was because of this that he wore a subtle smile.

Once arrived to the small airport, the people offloaded and proceeded to the Gulfstream G650 awaiting their arrival. Once again, Simon motioned for the group to follow. "Please, please come and make yourselves comfortable. It's going to be a long flight, but I will make sure your trip will be less taxing than your last." Towards the ending of his last statement, his attention bounced between Grant, Billy and finally to Pet. "Ladies first." He offered her a hand in assisting her up the first step.

She accepted and in shaking steps, ascended the lowered, front hatch's stairwell. A stewardess stood just inside the aircraft and at the top of the stairs to greet the newcomers. The interior of the aircraft looked very comfortable and inviting to lounge in. Already seated and waiting for the others was Jacobs, him in a forward facing seat on the left side of the plane. Seated on the table in front of him was his laptop, his busy fingers pausing in their typing to give the hybrid a weak and nervous smile.

Pet chose a set of seats over the plane's left wing and felt herself sink into the cushion of the chair next to the window. Grant sat next to her while Billy chose to stretch out on the couch towards the back and right side of the aircraft. Derek sat down in a rear facing seat at a table behind Pet and stretched out, setting his pistol normally kept at his back on the table. Muldoon gave Jacobs a spiteful stare down and sat down across from Pet and Grant.

Simon was the last to board the plane and sat down in the forward most, rear facing seat on the right of the plane. He gave a nod of his head and a smiled to Grant and Pet, his attention resting on the hybrid when speaking. "So Veronica..." The woman's head perked up when hearing her name called. "Tell me a little bit about yourself."

Pet was confused and awkwardly smiled. Derek leaned over the back of his seat to whisper into his friend's ear, "Watch what you say to this guy. I'm not so sure about him." The two men stared at the other in contemplation. "No one does everything he's claimed to do out of the kindness of their heart. There's more to what's going on than what's being said."

Grant had to agree on what the younger man said. Simon had heard what Derek had said and lowered his gaze. "I'm not like the criminals and of the sorts that you chase down. I assure you my intentions towards the lady and companions are well willed."

Derek turned around in his seat to lean over into the aisle as he directed his questions towards the aircraft's host. "I'm not convinced. See, you may not be _just like_ the shit bags I chase down for a nice little pay day, but you're no different than anyone else. You might walk on water to some, but to me...you're just another man. Except with a lot more money."

Muldoon interrupted. "How about you shut your bloody mouth and turn around."

Simon huffed a laugh. "No, no. Please, let him speak. I like someone who voices what's on their mind."

The stewardess stepped into the central cabin of the aircraft and began explaining the take off procedures to the passengers. While doing so, Derek got up and went to the unoccupied, forward facing seat in front of Simon to resume his confrontational conversing. Pet sighed. This was going to be a long flight.

* * *

An hour into the flight, the stewardess was handing out drinks of choice to the requesting passengers. Pet was picking at a small bag of trail mix she had been given, trying to ignore Billy lightly snoring in his sleeping on the couch.

Meanwhile, Derek hadn't moved from where had moved to, his pistol laying in front of him on the table. Jacobs was nodding off where he was sitting, his lap top still powered on and displaying several reports of a sort. Grant couldn't see exactly what they were about.

Simon spoke. "Miss Hammond..." Pet was about to pop a raisin into her mouth only to stop upon hearing her last name called. She looked up to the addressing man. "I asked earlier to hear more about you. That was, before getting interrupted." He and Derek looked to the other. "I would like to continue that conversation, if that is alright."

The hybrid timidly nodded and sat her snack aside. "What was it you were wanting to know?"

"Whatever it is you care to share. Your childhood, past experiences while working at the park, what's its been like living in Montana...anything."

The hybrid told of tales of her growing up in Kenya and what it was like living on an island amongst dinosaurs. Many times, she would forget who it was she was talking to and would return to keeping her stories limited to fewer details. Grant intently listened on. He had heard some stories of her from various sources living with her at the dig site, but never heard many of them for himself.

* * *

After a couple hours, the cabin of the aircraft was dimmed and several of the window shades pulled down. Grant had moved to one of the seats in the back to stretch out, leaving Pet to use the seat next to her to stretch out.

Simon looked around at the many passengers, asleep. Jacobs was awake and back to work, the man zoned out in whatever it was he was doing. The wealthy man reached under his seat's table for his lap top and set it up. The bright light of the computer's screen lit up his corner of the aircraft and after signing it, withdrew a flash drive from his pocket. He inserted it into one of the USB drives and accessed the folder. Just as it had always done, the password encryption code was needed.

He remembered when he was initially given the memory stick. It was days before John Hammond had passed away and during one of their last conversations. Not only had he promised to make his good friend's dream a reality, but was given the drive with the mention of it pertaining files to one of his company's greatest creations. At first, Simon thought it was in reference to Jurassic Park, and though never figured out for sure, concluded that's not what the files on the drive was about. Password after password he tried to unlock the files. Nothing worked. Should he get a hacker to break into it? No. Whatever it was this thing contained would be found out at the right time. At least, that's what Hammond said. When he was ready to know, he'd learn the password.

And so he felt he had just days prior. Veronica. Incorrect password. He propped his chin in his hand and tapped his cheek with a finger. He just knew that was the password. Thinking about it, she had to be Hammond's most accomplished creation. Was there something else? Wait. He had heard her be called her whole name once before in the hospital room.

Simon typed out Veronica Renee Hammond. The file opened, revealing many other file folders and named text documents as well. One of the file folders read 'Medical' so he clicked on it. All sorts of pages regarding medical work dating back to 1980 filled up the screen. These were medical records from the time of the hybrid's creation and up to a few days before the fateful Isla Nublar incident. He gave brief glances to each record. There were so many! He'd have to come back to this. There was still other content to explore.

After all the medical records were closed out, a file titled 'Keeping Track' was clicked. Several file tiles couldn't be counted with the eye, but the computer read 1,082 items. Oh boy. What had Hammond been up to. Each file tile was labeled with a date, the first being in early 1980. After opening the file, Simon realized these files in 'Keeping Track' were journal entries of a sort. John Hammond had been keeping a journal of Pet's progress and achievements throughout her life. The first file was minimized, Simon scrolling through the list of files to see the very last one labeled 'Final Thought'. Curious, he opened it.

_July 26, 1998_

_ Laying here, I realize just how short life is and with it, how valuable time with loved ones is. I have tried to make the most out of my time with my daughter and grandkids as well as friends. But not everyone can receive the time they rightfully deserve. As is the case with one whom I exceptionally proud of. I keep telling myself what I did was right. That by leaving her on the island for all those years, I was keeping her alive. Oh my dear Pet. If only you knew exactly how much you meant to me. I regret not being there for you every day that I should've been. But of course, you should already know that if you've read my previous memoirs. _

Pet watched the man, sitting back in his seat, and wearing a saddened type of scowl on his face. Something wasn't right about him. His eyes were glazing over. Should she bother asking? A deep sigh came from the man, the hybrid more curious than ever. She slowly got to her feet and went to the unoccupied seat located across the table from the wealthy man. Their eyes met from over the lap top's screen.

She pressed out a thin lipped smile and whispered, "Everything alright?"

She had every right to know. After all, if this journal entry was directed to her then the others were most likely as well. But why was he given the flash drive the files were stored on? Why not Robert Muldoon? Or someone else closer to the hybrid? Why him? Sure, Hammond trusted him to see to his company and dream, but her? What was to say he wouldn't take the information learned and try to hunt the hybrid down? Or kill her some other way? He thought back on a previous thought...When he was ready to know what all the drive contained, he'd learn the password.

How many people outside Hammond's trust circle knew the hybrid's other name was Veronica? Only a handful of people and it was almost certain none of them would say anything to InGen officials.

Simon genuinely smiled and answered. "There's something you should read."

He turned the lap top around for the hybrid to read and sat back, watching her eyes dart across the screen in learning.


	195. Memory Lane

**195 - Memory Lane**

Sounds of a child laughing woke Muldoon from a much needed snooze. He cracked an eye open to see a lap top screen's glow illuminate the otherwise dim aircraft cabin. He knew that sound and all too well, for that matter. Though the occurrence of it seemed distant in the past, the memory was still so fresh in his mind. A glance of his shoulder directed him to see the source of the laughter.

Sure enough, a lap top was displaying what appeared to be surveillance footage. Closer look revealed to be of Hammond's zoo and of the pack loading dock where larger animals were brought to the veterinary clinic. There, playing on the loading dock was a four year old Pet, waving a bubbly wand around. Standing nearby was himself, though much much younger, and looking impatient. He remembered that day and he was impatient. One of the game warden teams was late bringing a sick hippopotamus for medical evaluation. While waiting, he was letting Pet play with her bubbles. A couple minutes later, the trailer carrying the sedated hippo pulled up and Pet was told to go sit in the Jeep and wait. The footage was stopped.

From where she sat, watching the video files, Pet laughed to herself. She spoke to the man seated across from her. "I remember that. After I got back in the car, I spilt my bubbles all over the back floor board. I tried my best to clean up the mess so Robert wouldn't know. I didn't want to get in trouble."

Simon quietly laughed, Muldoon speaking up. "I later found out." He sat upright in his seat to better face the hybrid. "Jophrey left the ragtop off the Jeep, one day. Go figure, it ended up raining. Briefly, though, but it was still enough. Blood mess, it was. The whole back seat floorboard was nothing but bubbles."

Pet giggled. "You never said anything. I didn't think you knew." She closed out of the video's window to continue browsing through the other files. "ABC. What's this about?" She clicked on it to play it.

Because of the camera's angle in comparison to where she and Muldoon were in the veterinarian labs, she could barely see anything. But she could still hear plenty. She watched the video intently, bringing a hand to her mouth when recalling the memory.

Derek was now starting to wake up and rubbed at his eyes. He looked over at Billy, still asleep on the couch and snoring. Damn, he must've been on some good pain killers! Had he even gotten up at all? Woken up if even in the very least? He could hear the childlike chiming of the ABCs and got up to investigate.

Derek leaned over Pet's shoulder to watch the video footage through squinting eyes. He laughed to himself. "Hey, its Pet! And back when she was still cute, too!" Pet tossed him a playful hit on the arm and continued to watch the video. "How did you get this? Isn't this from Hammond's zoo?"

The woman nodded. "Yeah. Dad must've gotten copies of some of the surveillance files and saved them. Its a part of some stuff on a flash drive. There's a lot more stuff, too. Journal entries, medical files...video files...There's all sorts of vids on this from the zoo and from Jurassic Park."

"How did you get this?"

Pet gave a nod of her head to the billionaire. "Mr. Masrani had it."

The addressed man spoke up. "Simon, please. And yes, your father gave it to me shortly before his passing."

Derek gave a disapproving frown to the older man and grumbled. "I'm sure."

"If you're insinuating that I stole it, then you are mistaken." Both men bore holes into the other with their dark, piercing gazes.

Pet's girlish voice broke their moment of aggression. "Awww, look!" She pointed at a spot on the footage where Hammond could be seen, standing and listening. "Its Dad!"

Her eyes started to water up and she brought another hand to her mouth. Sadness flooded the woman and spilled out through the levees of her eye lids. What followed next completely tore her down as both he and Muldoon could be heard discussing his desire to know about her next appointments and how he wanted to stay informed on everything. She couldn't stand to watch anymore, but couldn't look away.

She looked to Muldoon joining his nephew to watch the footage. "Why didn't you tell me?"

The man shrugged. "I guess its just best some things not be known in their present time."

Pet sniffed back another wave of sadness and closed out of the window when the video was over. She debated on opening the next one. "What's going on," came Grant's voice from behind the forming group of people.

Derek answered. "Memory lane."

Grant joined the group, Pet turning the lap top around so everyone around the table could watch the next video. After four videos, the woman skipped ahead to a further saved date. She opened it. She was back in the examination labs and staring off where she suspected the TV was. Again, because of the camera's angle in conjunction to where she was sitting, not much could be seen of it.

Pet turned up the audio on the lap top and leaned it to listen to it. She started giggling again. "I remember this!" She looked to Muldoon. "I was watching that Paleo Science show."

Grant opened his mouth to say something, then closed it to hang his head and burry his face in his hand. "I had forgotten all about that."

Derek nudged the woman in the side. "If only you knew then what you know now, huh?" He nudged her again. "Huh, huh?"

The woman slapped his hand away, her blushing cheeks shining in the computer's light. "Go away," she giggled.

Jacobs could be seen striding into the lab, his white coat flowing behind him. Derek snickered. "Hey, who's that dweeb?" He gave a side shoulder smirk to the man who had woken up at one point. "Man, that sub shop you swear by hasn't done you justice..."

A few more videos later, tears were shed and laughs had. Retelling of stories from the memories of the videos were both said by Pet and Muldoon, a sting of sadness hitting them when remembering their past good friend Jophrey.

Pet was allowed to borrow Simon's lap top as she took it back to where she was sitting to read some more of Hammond's journal. She wasn't quite sure where to start, so she started from the beginning.

She verbally read through pages of entries, having to get up at one point to walk around and clear out her head. It was emotional, reading her father's past thoughts and real opinions of her. He loved her and she was realizing that. While she was walking around, Derek took it upon himself to read out loud the next entry. Everyone was awake, now, and listening to what was being read as though a child to a bedtime story.

All this time, the wealthy tycoon wasn't so much the arrogant jerk he sometimes made himself out to be.


	196. Simon's Plan

**196 - Simon's Plan**

Tires of the Gulfstream G650 touched down on the runway and taxied to a parking spot. The engines shut down and the front hatch open to allow the passengers to unload. Pet deeply inhaled the much missed Montana air as Derek went to find the car.

Grant turned his gaze over to the billionaire descending the stairwell. "Guess this is where we part ways, eh Mr. Masrani?"

Simon laughed. "Of course not, Dr. Grant. I was hoping to see the dig site since I planned on funding it."

The scientist wasn't sure to be slightly annoyed at the foreign man's intrusion or thankful for his possible funding. He did need the money, after all. "Oh, well in that case..."

Simon stared in disbelief at the circle of trailers and camping tents located around a canopy covered excavation site in the middle. Derek locked his red Challenger while Grant brought the museum's paleontology truck around to its usual parking spot. Several site workers saw the senior scientist was back and ran up to the truck.

Derek watched on, hands on his hips, and spoke. "Ah, look at all the Grant Groupies."

Megan could be seen running to Quarantine and pounded on the door. "Terrence, Terrence they're back!" Sounds of something colliding with the floor could be heard, Megan wincing. A moment later, the door opened to reveal the strawberry blonde man sporting hands coated in plaster. "Oh."

"You said they're back?" He looked around before finally seeing both mentor and protégé, with Pet trailing behind. He pushed past Megan when rushing to the returned group. "Hey you guys!" Terrence and Pet tightly embraced the other, the man momentarily forgetting about the plaster on his hands until he went to shake Grant's hand. He then looked to Pet, her reaching behind her to feel if any got on her back.

They hybrid went off into a tangent and snorted a bark in annoyance. Billy briefly snickered before he too was met by a good friend. Megan tightly wrapped her arms around his neck in relief. "You made it!" She gave him a kiss, not caring about the many people watching.

Derek and Muldoon joined the group, a couple of college aged girls going to the bounty hunter. "So did you have to kill any dinosaurs?"

If only he had an epic story to tell. Derek sighed.

Simon watched the scene from the side, hands in his slacks pockets and smiling to himself. Though the dig site looked like a dump, compared to what he had mentally envisioned, this place was close knit and respectful of its senior scientist. Yes, he would fund this place and with the hopes of the current living conditions improving.

In his looking around, his brow furrowed in question. Was that duct tape holding a trailer window's screen on? He cut his eyes over to Grant. Yeah, this place needed some major help. He decided to join the group and casually strode up to join them.

Terrence's laughing and smiling rapidly faded when seeing the other man approach them. "What's this asshole doing here?" He stood between the newcomer and Pet.

The woman sensed the immediate aggression spike come off the man and grabbed him by his arm to halt whatever action he was planning. "Terrence, it's alright. He means well."

"I'm sure." He ripped his arm out of the woman's grasp and took a step closer to the prolonging man. "What do you want?"

Simon slyly smiled. "And since you asked that, I'll explain." He scanned the other more familiar faces and continued. "Since we're all together, might we talk someplace in private?"

Derek scoffed. "I knew there was more to this guy then what he was leading us to believe."

* * *

Pet blinked at Simon. "Let me get this right...You're wanting to build _another park?_" She looked at her friends, some seated and some standing around Quarantine, appearing just as appalled by the news as she was. "Wasn't the first park and Ludlow's attempt at another _not enough_ convincing on how a dinosaur themed park is a very bad idea?"

The wealthy man shrugged. "The first park's disastrous end was the result of unfortunate sabotaging. As for Peter Ludlow, he had the right concept but went about it the wrong way. After I took over InGen, I gained access to the files pertaining to Jurassic Park. In those files were several informative notes on safe animal transporting from one location to another written by none other than you, Mr. Muldoon." Simon directed his gaze to the ex-game warden. "Had Mr. Ludlow reviewed the same notes, he'd have learned that transporting a Tyrannosaur over a certain weight and height was highly unadvisable. I aim to learn from his mistake and those made by InGen in regards to the first park."

Pet shook her head. "It's not going to work, Simon. Man can not control dinosaurs, despite what they think."

"But they can." Pet cut her eyes down on the man. "I have one of the best construction teams sighed on to work on this new park."

Derek cut in. "That's doesn't mean shit."

The billionaire continued. "Which is why I wanted to speak with you all. I want a better understanding of what it is I'm to expect from these animals." He looked to Grant. "Its said you're one of the best in your field of study. Need I explain more?" His attention bounced between Pet and Muldoon. "You two were noted to be the best of both islands' game warden teams. You both have extensive knowledge on the animals' behavior and special handling procedures. And I'm almost certain that one isn't going any where without the other."

Pet and Muldoon looked to each other, her answering. "Maybe."

Simon smiled a little bit more. "As for you, Mr. Mitchell, you have quite the record from your time in Kenya. Impressive, to say the least."

Derek spoke up. "So...your riding in on a white horse to save Pet from the island and cure her was a part of your convincing them to agree to this mad idea of yours?"

"A bit over analyzing."

"Or maybe just enough."

Once more, both men were glaring at the other. Pet buried her face in her hands and groaned. "Will you knock it off, Derek?" She heaved a sigh and brought her focus back up to the billionaire. "How set are you on making this new park?"

"Very. With or without your companions assistance, I will still strive to see Mr. Hammond's dream a reality."

Pet breathed out, "That's what I was afraid of." She stood up. "I'm going to have to agree with Derek on this. You had this in mind when coming to the island...when coming to 'save' me and cure me...You wanted to hold that over me, over us," she mentioned to those around the trailer, "To have us join in on your crazy ass plan."

The statement seemed to have hurt Simon, a bit. He frowned. "It was never my intention to hold anything over anyone. What I did, I did on my own accord. Just like the choice is yours on whether or not you choose to assist with the new park."

Pet shook her head. "I've had my fair share of dinosaurs. I have no interest in going back down to either of those two islands to work around them, again. Plus," she began, sounding a bit hopeful and looking to Grant. "I'm hoping to get married soon. I don't want to walk away from that."

A faint smile could be seen beneath Simon's bearded face. "Understandable. Its not something you have to decide on, immediately. I still need to finalize the paddock layouts for both the carnivores and herbivores. The only things I have plans for are the visitor center, petting zoo as well as rough drafts for-"

Muldoon cut in. "Wait, petting zoo?"

Simon nodded. "Yes. I thought it'd be a great way for the children to interact with some of more...gentler and smaller...herbivore species." All he got in response were several blank stares. He arched a brow in question. "Is something wrong with that?"

Derek snorted a laugh. "Do you really want an answer?"

* * *

**Writing new content that starts working towards Jurassic World is becoming more and more tricky. I'm trying to stick to the set timeline on Park Pedia Wiki as much as I can. So if ne chapters seem a bit slow being posted, its because I'm either busy with the family and work or trying to make sure stuff is flowing right. I don't want another issue like I had before...(I'm looking at you original chapters 141-146...)**


	197. Working Out the Finer Details

**197 - Working Out the Finer Details**

Pet quietly sat and listened to what was being proposed. She couldn't believe she was hearing what she was nor aiding in what she just knew would be another doomed attempt to control dinosaurs. But Simon was determined to make the park concept work and was making sure to keep notes on what was being said and recommended. Except for the part of it being best he _not_ make another park.

Terrence seemed excited about a possible job opportunity at the park. Then again, he wasn't there for the Isla Nublar incident nor to experience InGen's glorious screw up when on Isla Sorna. Although, as sad it was to admit, InGen's issue on the island wasn't entirely their fault. There was help, but the T-Rex wrecking San Diego was their issue all the way. Pet sighed and stared at Grant. He had a just as unenthused look on his face as she did.

Muldoon just stood there, deadpan in expression and wracking up the total points of nonsense this wealthy man was spewing. He wasn't sure who was worse about it, Hammond or Masrani. Not much else could be said or done. Derek was sharpening his knife...again...with his pistol seated next to him on the couch.

Billy had already left to go lay down after another dose of prescription pain killers as well as not wanting to hear anymore of what was being said. But he wasn't about to admit that. If this guy was genuine on funding the dig site, Billy didn't want to screw it up. He already felt like he had done enough of that while at Site B.

Terrence questioned. "When is construction to begin on this...new park?"

"Hopefully never," quipped Muldoon.

"Soon," answered Simon. "If plans work out, I'll have a new construction company formed within my own company to aide in building. I already have one company, Axis Boulder Engineering, to oversee much of the electrical work."

Pet tapped a finger against her leg in thought. "You're going to go with the electrical fencing as was with the first park?"

"Sort of." A scheming smile lit up Simon's face.

Grant spoke up. "We all saw how well the electrical fence worked on Jurassic Park." He looked over to Derek. "Well, almost everyone."

"I'm more going with the idea of tracking devices. One of the issues was the first park were some of the smaller animals crossing over into another paddock. It seemed the high voltage fencing wasn't enough." Simon aimed a finger at Muldoon. "I liked your idea you proposed to Mr. Hammond with fitting radio collars on...what as it..."

Pet answered. "Velociraptors."

"Right." Simon nodded and gave a casual glance to the woman's sickle claws. So fascinating yet so unnerving.

Muldoon spoke up. "Problem with the collars were the raptors chewing them off."

"As I remembering reading in a few notes. So," the billionaire clapped his hands together. "An idea was made using the motion sensors placed around the paddocks as well as the idea of the collars. Tracking beacons."

Pet furrowed her brow. "What?"

"They would be implanted inside the animal, just under the skin, in a place the animal wouldn't be able to reach." Pride of the idea shined brightly in the man's otherwise dark eyes. "That way, should something happen, the animal its self can be tracked no matter if its in its own paddock or happens to venture into another one." Before anyone could predictably voice their objections and or concerns, he continued. "The tracking beacons will also serve as a type of shock emitter. Should an animal with an implant near its enclosure's perimeter fence, it'll receive a shock charge to hopefully deter it from escaping. Although, I am hoping that with the help of those present, I wont have to worry about paddock escapees."

Muldoon shifted his weight from one foot to another. "Exactly how did you plan on doing this? Certain species, such as the raptors, are highly intelligent while other larger ones like the Tyrannosaur and Brachiosaur, know how to use their weight to their advantage should they decide to try and escape."

"Heavily fortified, concrete barriers with reinforced metal perimeter fencing."

Pet scoffed. "At least it sounds better than that electrified chicken wire crap set up Dad had."

Grant anxiously cleared his throat. "What about in the case of a power failure and say, a dinosaur or two...or more...break out of their enclosure. How do you plan on tracking them?"

Muldoon interrupted with his own question. "Better yet, how do you plan on taking certain species down, should they escape? Say, like for the Tyrannosaur?"

Grant chided, "Or a Spinosaur, should you decide to feature one of those to the public..."

Derek inquired. "Basically something big and dangerous." He looked to Grant and then Pet. "What's a Spinosaur?" The mutually shared stares he received from the two people made him even more curious. "Something as the name implies, I'm assuming?" Still no answer. "I'm assuming it's...big? Carnivore or herbivore?"

Pet answered. "I'll tell you all about it when you're older. I don't want to give you nightmares."

Derek shook his head and sighed. "You only wish."

"Oh? And who was the one with PTSD in the bunker after getting off the island?" Derek fell quiet, Muldoon biting back a snicker and Pet smiling. "Again, I don't want to give you nightmares." She turned her attention back to Simon. "So, where were we? Ah yes...escaped dinosaurs and ways to bring them down."

Simon wasn't sure if the hybrid was serious or not and figured he'd ask anyway, given her and her guardian's past experience on the doomed island. "What did you have in mind?"

"Rocket launcher," Muldoon hastily answered.

Okay, this guy had to be kidding, right? A _rocket launcher_? "Pardon?"

Pet rested her head on the table and sighed. "Not this again, Robert..."

The ex-game warden went into detail. "Apparently you've never seen how difficult it can be to take down a full grown elephant when enraged. Imagine that, but in something weighing tons more. You're going to need heavy artillery as a backup should there come a time you need it."

Pet didn't bother raising her head when questioning her good friend. "Are you going to black mail this guy into saying yes like you did John?"

Simon rolled his eyes off the woman and to the probing stare of Muldoon, who answered. "I don't think that will be necessary. Mr. Masrani seems like a reasonable man open to suggestions."

"Fuck it," broke in Derek. "Go get some heavy duty SUVs and equip those bad boys with machine guns. Sort of like what the military uses in convoy duties in the desert."

"It could work," Muldoon added in, in a quiet tone of voice.

Simon slimmed his gaze down on the man. "Are you serious?"

Pet nodded. "Yeah, he's serious. Go fly back down to Isla Sorna and take a good look at what you're wanting to show off in this park of yours. Or just listen to what those of us have survived the fiasco of the park have to tell you. I'm sure there's also several video files from San Diego to help-"

"Alright, I understand." Simon was now sounding a bit annoyed.

What he hoped would be an accepted idea with his ideas of improving certain aspects was turning into a headache. But, the questions and possible scenarios he was being told were understandable and things that should be addressed. He took in a deep breath to calm his racing mind.

"Other than a rocket launcher," he turned his attention to Derek, "And weapon enhanced vehicles, what are some other preventative measures I should look into?"

Pet answered. "How about a team of trained game wardens to assist in taking down the animals in an event of an emergency? Too many times in Kenya, Robert and I were the ones called in to go out and bring back escaped animals. Then, when we were at the park, a number of 'game wardens' didn't have a damn clue what the hell to do when it came to taking down or securing a dinosaur." The woman stared the man deeply in the eye. "Make sure _all_ park employees working in the field and or around certain species and paddocks know what the hell to do in case of an emergency involving that species. _Please_, _please, please_. Keep people posted near or at enclosure fences to ensure expediency in reporting and handling procedures. These are dangerous animals, Simon. Both the carnivores and the herbivores can pose harm if they feel threatened or their territory unrightfully intruded upon."

Simon was momentarily lost on what to say. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"Oh yeah, but we'll get to that later on. There's always going to be stuff to know later on, especially when dealing with dinosaurs."

"I'll keep that in mind..." The man flatly said.

He had read the notes over and over again and thought he had learned a good bit from others' mistakes. Now, since hearing what he had, he wondered if more things had happened that hadn't been recorded or written down. Hopefully in time, he'd learn all he'd need to know to properly run his Jurassic World.


	198. Planning

**So it's been a while since posting a new chapter... my apologies. Sort of hit a major depression spike post being laid off from my job and couldn't get my mind to focus on finishing this chapter...until today. I got halfway into it then stopped :( Wasn't my intention to keep the readers waiting so long for new stuff.**

* * *

**198 - Planning**

Pages upon pages offered stunningly designed wedding dresses ranging from all different colors and styles. Pet drummed her fingers against her chin propped in her hand and flipped another page. Now she was in the winter themed weddings. Though a burgundy colored dress was beautiful in color, she wanted a more traditional colored dress. She did like the designs, though, and continued to flip through the pages.

After 5 pages, she was in the spring section and actually harbored the idea of a soft pink to light lavender dress. Watching from over her shoulder was Derek. He had actually managed to sneak up on the unsuspecting hybrid. How he did that, he had no idea. Ever so slowly, he bent down until almost at her ear.

Whispering, "Boo," almost sent the hybrid into obit when she jumped out of her seat.

"You little-" And off the two went, barreling through Grant's trailer front door.

"Hey you guys!" Derek bellowed, feeling himself be pounced on from behind. To the ground he fell, the two tumbling. The man was in a fit of laughter, arms over his face, while the woman screeched and hit him in the sides.

A harsh yank at Pet's shirt collar peeled her off Derek, her looking up to see Muldoon. "Has it ever crossed your mind to act _professional_ once in a while?"

Pet growled. "That little shit was snooping on me!"

Muldoon cut his eyes down on his nephew. "What?"

Derek was giggling. "I caught her looking at wedding dresses." Pet kicked him in the shin. "What! It's cute! That little blood crazed, psycho hybrid is all grown up!" Another kick, this time harder, made the man flinch in pain. "Bitch."

"You started it..." The woman snorted.

Meanwhile, Grant went into his trailer to get something and had to back peddle by the small dining room table when seeing the thick catalogue offering wedding dresses. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure he was alone and flipped through a couple pages. Since the site funding was to begin at the beginning of next month, Grant planned to finally follow through with the much set aside plans of finally settling down.

He couldn't believe it. He was finally going through with it. A part of him was excited while another part dreaded being tied down. A part of him felt guilty for not following through with Ellie, but there was that part of him that dreaded the remote idea of kids. And she was all about kids.

Grant pushed back the memories of his past what could've been to focus on what lie ahead. He gave another look over his shoulder and leaned over a bit to glance outside the kitchen window. Pet and Derek were arguing, as usual, with the ex-game warden in the middle trying to keep them separated. Good luck. Grant went back to analyzing the catalogue. Were these wedding dresses or bride's maids dresses? A pale green dress? Yellow dress? _Coral?_ _And a skirt at that?_ He grimaced and hastily flipped through a few pages. Now the summer section looked nice. Oh, he loved that one dress! It was simplistic yet elegant. It was a traditional white with a one shoulder strap crafted of lace with iridescent beadwork. The beaded lace over laid the bodice before splitting at the waist to V out towards the base of the dress. The beaded lace at the back also made for the dress's train. It was beautiful, and in his opinion, well worth the almost $400 price tag. He folded down the corner of the page in hopes of her liking that one particular dress.

He was about to look through some more dress options when he heard the still bickering Pet and Derek near closer to the trailer. Not wanting to get caught, he back turned a few pages to the spring collections and scampered to his room. He had just closed the bedroom door when the front door of the trailer opened.

"I'm just saying," Pet began, "You don't have to be a little shit _all_ the time."

"But, but, but...Then my whole purpose to being here will be lost." Derek tried to sound upset and heartbroken, but the hybrid knew better.

"Then go get lost."

"You're so funny, Pet." Derek began making him a glass of ice water as Pet sat back down to look at dresses. "So, find anything you like so far?"

"Nope." She turned a page, but jumped at being startled when Grant's bedroom door opened. Pet's eyes widened in horror and she slammed the book shut, tossing it into the booth like seat beside her. She innocently smiled. "Hey, honey, I didn't know you were here." Grant stopped in the door way, an old blanket tucked under an arm and a forced out expression of puzzlement on his face. "How long have you been here?"

Grant sat the blanket down on the kitchen bar and tried hard not to smile at the slightly panicked hybrid. "Not long..."

Derek looked to Pet, deviously smiling. "So...Doc..."

Pet growled, "Derek, so help me I'll-"

"How do you feel about joining Uncle Rob, Personality and I for pool tonight?" He could almost feel the anger radiating off the hybrid from across the room.

Grant looked between the younger man and his fiancé, him even able to pick up on there being something in the air between them. Pet snorted a hiss. "I know what you're doing, _you little shit_..."

The senior scientist's eyes darted between the two people in contemplation. "I was actually thinking of staying here, tonight. I've done enough going out here lately to last me a while. Besides, the last time I went out turned out to be a trip from hell."

He sat down at the table across from the hybrid and stared at her bizarre like, given the too forced out smile centered on him. "Is there something I should know about?"

"No," instantly replied Pet.

"Yes," corrected Derek.

"No," Pet growled out behind clenched teeth and a continuous grin. Her eye was twitching, now, in annoyance.

"Pet has cooties."

The hybrid face palmed and shook her head. "So mature, Derek. So mature."

"Hey, I could've said-"

Pet had leapt out of her seat and was charging at Derek, again, the bounty hunter yelping and exploding out of the front door. Well they were most likely going to be done for a while. Good. Grant reached under the table to get the catalogue and continued browsing post dog eared page.

The chase ended up at Quarantine, but Derek was too slow to make to the bunk room and lock the door. Terrence was almost knocked over where he was standing by the kitchenette bar when Pet tackled Derek to the floor.

Derek laughed out, "Hey Personality, Pet was looking at wedding dresses!"

"Shit!" Pet quickly got to her feet and ran back out of the Quarantine to return to Grant's.

Watching the scene from a distance was Billy, him laying next to Megan at the excavation site. "I want to ask, but know I shouldn't." He looked to the woman next to him. "I've learned to not ask."

Megan nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

Pet went into the trailer to find Grant gone, the blanket no longer on the bar. Did he leave? Did he notice the catalogue? Oh no, please not that. The hybrid saw the hefty book where she had left it and grabbed it. Keeping it tucked under an arm, she went back to Quarantine.

"Whew. Close call," she stated upon going back inside. Pet sat the catalogue down on the kitchenette bar and looked in relief to a heavy in concentration Muldoon. Her brow furrowed. That's when she noticed him leaning over a large sheet of paper with a drawing of what looked like..._Isla Nublar?!_ "What the fuck is that?"

"Masrani is paying me to assist in planning out the paddocks for the listed species he plans on showing." Muldoon's attention was still focused on studying out the lay out of the island. Though it had been years ago since Isla Nublar hosted contained pre-historic animals, he still knew the terrain of the island quite well and what species were best where. "I could use your help. Terrence, here, has been assisting me but he doesn't know these animals and their behaviors like you and I."

Pet took a place next to her guardian and best friend to study the map. She could see the faint, blue lines of what used to be the old perimeter fences, maintenance sheds and visitor center. She pointed at the grayed out area of map where the old visitor center used to be. "Why is that all shaded out?"

"Masrani doesn't want to build anything there or tear anything down."

"But, that's the visitor center."

Muldoon pointed at a light pink spot on the map. "No, that's the visitor center. Well, new one anyway."

Pet was confused. "Why build a completely new one when there's still a decent set up not too far away? And its in a nice location. Sure, it'd need some face lifting, I'm sure the site is salvageable."

Terrence spoke up. "Just because a small graveyard's location is an ideal location for a shopping mall, doesn't mean it should be destroyed."

"Aye," agreed Muldoon. "And Masrani understands that. What used to be Jurassic Park will continue to stand as a remembrance to what was and could've been. To the lives lost..."

Pet frowned. "Jophrey...Mr. Arnold...that poor lawyer sap...What was his name again?"

"I don't bloody remember." Muldoon traced out a section of what used to be a Brachiosaur paddock. Afterwards, he handed Pet a piece of paper laying on the other side of him with species of dinosaurs listed on it. "Here's what was planned for the new park and here," he pointed at a few sections already drawn out. "Are where I was thinking of placing them."

Pet shook her head. "No, you don't want the Pteranodon in that canyon. Remember, the constant falling rock issues we kept having with the first park? For visitor safety, I'd recommend here. Sure, its not so much of a gorge like where you were planning, but it'd be safer for employees and visitors."

"Right." Muldoon erased the light sketches he had drawn and circled the area Pet had pointed out.

For the rest of the evening, the three people continued to discuss their plans of where appropriate places would be for the listed species. They hadn't completely finished everything when dinner time came around. Terrence rolled up the plans and paper clipped it closed with the species list attached. Meanwhile, Muldoon called Simon to relay the progress of the planning while Terrence and Pet began dinner.


	199. Money Funded Toys

**Because I couldn't think of anything else to name this chapter...**

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**199 - Money Funded Toys**

Pet yawned. She could barely keep her eyes open at 10:30 in the morning. For the past three days, Muldoon had been driving her nuts in finalizing the paddock plans. It got to the point where she didn't care where the dinosaurs were placed. "Put the raptors there." She pointed to a spot just shy south of the visitor center.

Terrence scratched at his chin. "I thought that's where the Margaritaville was going to go. Or was that the Starbucks?"

The hybrid shrugged. "I don't know and I don't care. Raptors need love, too. And booze...and maybe coffee." She stared lazily at the map. "I know I could use some coffee." Her gaze rolled upwards to Muldoon paying her no attention. "Want some coffee?"

"Sure."

Terrence huffed a laugh. "Only Brit I know that drinks coffee. I thought they were all about tea." Muldoon stopped in his studying the map to glare at the man across the bar. "Hey, I'm just saying. It'd be like Pet actually eating a steak well done."

"Ew," replied the hybrid as she filled up the coffee pot with water. "Are you crazy?"

"Maybe. A little."

Derek came out of the bunk room, wearing his blue jeans and no shirt and looked at Pet. "Did I hear something about a raptor needing loving?"

Pet hung her head. "You're such a dip shit."

"You're such a tease." He poked her in the side and nudged her over to finish making the coffee. "I keep telling you to try those energy shots. They work a lot better than coffee."

Terrence laughed. "Last time she had one of those, she didn't sleep for almost two days!"

"I know, wasn't it funny? It was like a squirrel on a caffeine overdose!" Derek started measuring out the coffee. "Or you without your Ritalin." Terrence's smile abruptly dropped. Pet smacking Derek on the shoulder caused him to spill half of the measured out coffee grounds. "Look what you made me do!"

Pet snorted. "Serves you right. Your mess so you clean it."

"You made me spill it!" He looked over to Muldoon. "Uncle Rob! Pet made me make a mess!"

"So clean it," came the older man's impatient tone of voice.

Derek shook his head and went off on a mumbled rant while brushing off the grounds onto the floor. "I'll sweep it in a minute."

A knock came at Quarantine's door, Pet answering it. It was Megan. "Hey. Something I can help you with?"

The brunette shyly smiled and gave a small wave. "Yeah, Billy asked me to come get you."

"Uh...okay. Did he say for what?" Megan shook her head.

"Nope. Just asked if I'd come get you...so here I am."

Pet gave an uncertain nod. "Okay." She tossed a look over her shoulder. "I'll be right back," and left the trailer.

She followed Megan across the dig site and to where the proto typer had been kept. Damn having to show Derek how to operate it. He'd made himself a raptor resonating chamber while she and the others were gone on Paul Kirby's awesome adventure and would occasionally wake her in the middle of the night with it. At least, that was until she took it and hid it. Leave it to him to go look in her underwear drawer first to try and find it. Too bad for him. The look on Grant's face when he found it in his sock drawer, instead. The memory of made Pet smile.

As usual, Billy was on the proto typer's computer and pulling up something else for the machine to replicate. Pet sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Does Alan know you're blowing his funding on making toys?"

Billy answered without looking away from the computer. "Uh, actually this is for your money bags buddy."

"What..."

"Yeah. As soon as he found out we had one of these, he asked me to make some little miniature skull models. He wanted a children's education program at the new park where kids could go learn stuff about dinosaurs." He motioned with a side nod of his head to a folding table, off to the side, holding several small skulls roughly 6 inches in size. Pet could easily recognize a T-Rex, Spinosaur and Velociraptor skull. A closer examination revealed a Stegosaurus and Brachiosaur. "Can you think of anything else I can toss in there?"

Pet shrugged. "A raptor claw. Maybe an actual model of a Stego, but make it larger than 6 inches."

Billy lightly laughed. "I can't make things too big. That thing doesn't make anything over 12 inches. All I could afford to rent, at the time, was the cheapest available which also makes the smallest models. That resonating chamber-"

"Which one?" Pet interrupted.

Again, Billy laughed and so did Megan. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Uh huh..." The hybrid shook her head. "And no offense to you, but why is Simon asking us to make this stuff?" She picked up the T-Rex skull model to look at it. "He has more than enough money to hire a higher end company to replicate better crafted stuff. So why this shit hole?"

"Excuse me?" It was Grant. He had overheard what the woman had said. "My dig site isn't a shit hole." Pet raised a brow to the comment. "I've seen worse."

"A bunch of these trailers need replacing. That museum truck, out there, needs a tune up and a new tire on the back right. Its almost bald! The air conditioning doesn't work and-" She stopped, weakly smiling at the glare she was receiving. "I love you."

Grant shook his head and joined his protégé by the computer. "What's next on the list?"

Pet blanked out what was being said in exchange to listen to something approaching the dig site from the distance. A helicopter. Why was a helicopter flying towards the dig site? The hybrid rolled her eyes. Stupid question. "Alright," she began, looking to Grant. "Who called the Money Bags?"

The two scientists and Megan looked to the hybrid. "What?"

After a couple of moments, they heard what she was referring to. Billy was curious. "How do you its him?"

"Who else would fly here in a helicopter?"

The four people went outside to watch the air craft come better into view. It was dark blue in color with the Masrani Global Corporation logo in a lighter blue on the side. Pet sighed, Grant questioning. "What does he want, now?"

* * *

**Because I think this chapter is going somewhere...I don't know.. my brain is full of stuff at the moment...**


	200. Visiting With Purpose

**Looks like I'm back at it...after taking a much needed break from writing. Had way too much junk in my brain clogging up my thought process for writing this project. Just fell into an overall negative and depressed state and couldn't think straight. Before forcing out content I wasn't in the mind set to write, figured it best to step back for a bit. Now, after re-reading previous chapters to jump start whatever it was I was doing beforehand, I'm getting back into it. My deepest apologies to my loyal readers for the long, long, long delay in releasing chapters.**

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**200 - Visiting With Purpose**

Simon stepped out of the cool interior of the helicopter and out into the rather warm Montana air. He smiled and gave a friendly wave to the group of excavation residents approaching him. Derek, too, had heard the helicopter and came to investigate. He stopped along side Pet and planted his hands on his hips. Something about the visiting billionaire didn't look right. Instead of the usual, expensive suit he was wearing a light blue polo shit, khaki pants and _sneakers_?!

Even Pet was baffled and wrinkled her brow, tilting her head to the side. When Simon was within ear range of the group, he called to the others. "Good afternoon!" He shook Grant's hand first.

Derek spoke. "Welcome back, Money Bags. What brings you back to our sand box?" Pet gave him a slap on the shoulder for his out spoken nick name of the other. "What?"

Grant decided to be the more professional of the group. "I wasn't expecting you back so soon, Mr. Masrani. To what do we offer for your visit?"

Both Billy and Derek looked to the man oddly. Guess when it came to associating with someone responsible for keeping one's fossil excavation operating, might as well be courteous. The newcomer replied. "I came to speak with you, Dr. Grant." The scientist arched a brow at hearing his name. "And Veronica."

Derek mumbled, "Figures," under his breath. Because the helicopter was still running, though slowing down, he was not heard.

Pet gave the wealthy man an awkward smile. Was she supposed to be flattered or something? Her eyes darted between her equally confused friends and back to the man. "Okay, uh...what can we help you with?"

Simon motioned for the paleontologist and company to follow him, somewhere a bit quieter and favoring of privacy. The man explained. "First things first. As you might remember, Dr., there were a few assets that escaped Isla Sorna during your extraction from the island."

Derek slimmed his dark eyed gaze. "Assets?"

Grant answered in a questionable way. "You mean the Pteranodon?" Simon nodded. "What about them?"

"I have a specialized team dispatched to try and locate them. Only problem is, where to start." The group stopped shy of Quarantine's door. "I was hoping you would be able to provide some insight to these creatures."

Grant's eyes shifted to Pet's in uncertainty before returning his gaze to the site sponsor. "What is it you're wanting to know?"

"How or where we might possibly find these things. I'm hoping to catch them before there is another San Diego like incident and since you're the best in your field, I knew coming to you for help wouldn't disappoint." Simon's subtle smile appeared more as a silent plea for help.

Grant silently nodded and turned on a heel away from Quarantine and in the direction of the office trailer. Nothing was said between anyone in the trek, volunteer site workers looking up from their workings to observe the passing group. A man on a mission, the senior scientist swung open the door and went into the trailer for an immediate beeline to a book shelf.

Its shelves were covered in dust and some of the spines on the different sized books stained or too, layered in a thin coat of dust. Grant reached for a book, the title on its spine no longer legible from age and use, and began thumbing through the pages. After a couple moments, he sat the book down on the bar top and slid it towards Simon. On the pages was a map of North America, but it sectioned off in what appeared to be 3 main land masses with a large water mass running through the central US and up through Canada.

The scientist began. "Like some of the dinosaurs on the islands, the Pteranodon was a Cretaceous species. Several fossils have been found in Kansas, Alabama, Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota. Now, these regions belonged to what was called the Western Interior Seaway." Grant pointed to the water colored region running through the U.S. and into Canada and continued to share with knowledge.

Simon was absolutely fascinated and listened intently to what was being said. He took mental note of each detail said, hoping it'd provide some assistance in locating the escaped animals.

Even Derek found himself intrigued by what was being said.

Grant continued about his spiel, loosing himself in what he was saying. Anytime he could share what he knew to someone, he took advantage of it. Minutes later, he wore a modest smile shy of loudly stating his pride and shrugged. "Hopefully it helps you."

"Absolutely." Simon's voice sounded distant, as though still lost in everything he had just learned. He nodded a smile to the scientist. "Excuse me, a minute, while I relay what you told me to the search team." With that, he politely excused himself and left the trailer.

The rest of the group stayed in the trailer, looking to the other in confusion.

Outside, Simon began dialing a number on his cell phone. Several rings later, a man answered. "Hoskins, here. Go."

"Mr. Hoskins. Just the man I was wanting to speak with. I got some information for you that might assist you tracking down the assets."

* * *

An olive drab military helicopter flew over a stretch of the Rocky Mountains. Seated in the back of it was a heavy set man sporting a thick, brown and grey goatee. He nodded into a large black phone at his ear, an arrogant smile on his face. "Gotcha loud and clear, boss man. I'll let you know if we find anything." He hung up the phone and dropped it on the seat beside him and in between himself and another backseat passenger.

The man seated next to him resembled something of a human brick wall sculpted of muscle with a shaved head and face full of a thick, black beard. He cut his equally black eyes down on the man next to him. "What's the word, Vic?"

"According to Mr. Masrani's source of reliable information, we're to search along what used to be something called the Western Interior Seaway or whatever." The bald man blinked in confusion, Hoskins scoffing and shaking his head. "Its whatever. Some technical lingo...some new word he's learned. Who cares." He waved a hand in the air, rolling his eyes. "But we're to try searching along a list of states and up into Canada."

Another man, a black man wearing a black muscle shit and brown pants, snorted. "And then what?"

Hoskins's face upturned into a sly smile. "We terminate the assets."

The bald man looked off to the side, as though recalling a memory. "I thought the order was to capture the animals and bring them back unharmed."

"It was, but sometimes...shit happens." Hoskins clapped the man on the shoulder. "Wouldn't you agree?" A mutual smile from the bald man answered the question followed by a nod from the black man. "Okay, then. Let's go hunt us down some flying lizards."

* * *

Pet's wide, blue green eyes nervously darted between Simon's and Grant's. Her mind was racing. "You're wanting me to go to San Diego..." The billionaire nodded in a nonverbal response. "But, can't Jacobs just meet us at the bunker for this blood work?" The hybrid winced and frowned a bit. "Do I really need to go to the main complex in California?"

"It would be easier, yes," Simon answered. He could see the younger woman was deeply concerned and could understand. "Don't worry, Veronica. As long as InGen remains under my corporation's banner, you are under my protection. I assure you, you are absolutely in no harm."

Derek spoke up next. "So you just expect her to walk right in through InGen's doors for these blood tests, right?"

Simon shifted his focus to Derek. "That's right."

The younger man shook his head, crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against a countertop next to where Pet stood. "I don't like it."

"These blood tests must be done every 6 months to ensure Veronica is still in good health."

Pet's eyes fell on Grant, leaning against a nearby wall, and questioned. "Alan?" It took the man a moment to respond as his downward cast gaze flickered upwards to the addressing woman. "What do you think?"

A deeply exhaled breath escape the paleontologist. "Well," he began, straightening his posture. "I agree with Mr. Masrani. You do need to keep up with routine checkups, for the time being." Both Grant and his sponsor locked gazes, the latter seeing a certain edge of serious to the scientist. "I trust she will be taken care of and given the best care."

The billionaire tried to smile beneath the heat of the stern stare. "Absolutely, Dr."

Grant lowered his voice to an almost growl. "She will also not be going by herself."

Derek cut in. "Damn right, she wont!" He stood up, wrapping an arm around the woman's shoulders.

Pet gave him a corner eyed stare down. "I guess you're volunteering?"

The man held up a hand to Pet to silence her. "Hush, Pet, adults are talking." A backslap to the gut drew a grumble and flinch from the man. "Brat."

The hybrid shook her head at her good friend and squared her eyes down on Simon. "Fine, whatever. I'll go. But Jacobs is the _only_ person who'll be examining me. I don't trust anyone else."

Derek cut in. "What, you don't trust me?"

"You won't be examining me."

"Says who?" He wiggled his brows, the woman snorting a hiss at him.

"Enough," barked Grant. He rolled his eyes over to his protégé. "I want you to go with her, too."

Billy was surprised by the request as were the others present. "Oh, um, yeah sure." He was at a loss of how to answer. "Why?"

"The more people with her I trust, the better I'll feel." Grant turned his remorseful gaze to the confused hybrid.

"You're not going?" Pet was heartbroken.

Grant frowned. "I'm sorry, Nica, no. I've already been away from the dig site for too long, already. The first funding check should be in, in a couple days and there's some things I need to get caught up on."

"Oh." She nodded and forced out an obviously fake smile. "Best to get that done, then." Pet drove her hands into her pockets and nodded in acceptance, looking to Simon. "When do we leave?"


	201. The Suite Life

**So sleepy... started this chapter early in the AM after posting 200 and tried to finish it... didn't until later in the AM. Still sleepy... I was hoping to get 202 posted. So many fun ideas running through my head with Pet while in San Diego.**

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**201 - The Suite Life**

The snoring wouldn't stop. For an hour, Derek had been asleep in his seat of the Learjet 35A with his head lopping around, when the aircraft hit turbulence, whilst snoring. Why the snoring? Pet was close to loosing her sanity as she simmered in a pool of her agitation. She sat across from his rear facing seat, arms crossed over her chest, and snorted.

Occasionally she would kick him in the leg to wake him up or at least stop the snoring, but it only worked for a few mere moments. After that, he'd nod back off and resume snoring as though nothing had happened. Billy would snicker once in a while, despite the heated glare he would get from the hybrid.

Simon, seated next to Pet from across the aisle, expected her to completely loose her temper and attack the snoozing man. He was even willing to put a hefty amount of money on that bet, he believed it so much. It was because of, it kept him on edge and jumpy every time the woman made a noise or moved in the slightest. He wasn't the only one who felt that way. Seated directly behind him and Pet, in joined seats, were Billy and Megan.

Megan had managed to sweet talk Grant into allowing her to accompany the others to San Diego. He was quite reluctant on it, which she couldn't figure out why. The whole situation was nothing but a massive series of questions to her she couldn't seem to get a straight answer on. Things such as why one of the top wealthiest men in the world had such a keen interest in protecting the other woman came to mind, first. Billy kept using the reason of it being because of the things she had seen and knew of Jurassic Park, but that couldn't be the full reason. The woman's legal guardian knew just as much and had been just as involved with the park, yet he received much less interest. Perhaps it had something to do with the illness she contracted? Presumably from an infected animal while working at the park. Since coming to familiarize herself with the woman in question after arriving to the dig site, the more she noticed things she could only describe as abnormal. Such as those sounds she frequently made. After hearing Billy tinker around with the resonating chamber when mimicking sounds of a raptor, Megan could hear the strong resemblance between it and the other woman's. Something just didn't seem right.

Megan's alert, blue eyes studied the billionaire's visible hand white knuckling an arm rest before shifting her attention to the all too still form of Pet. Billy's reaching into his backpack, laying in the helicopter's floor board, almost sent Megan through the roof in jolt of fright. The junior scientist shot her a smirk as he chuckled and withdrew a small bag of peanuts from an outside pocket. He tore the bag open and poured himself a handful, offering Megan some. She bit out a timid smile and shook her head. Shrugging, Billy ate the handful and stood up to lean over Pet's shoulder. He took a single peanut and popped it into Derek's open mouth.

One good snore and right down his throat it went. Spasms of involuntary chokes and gags woke Derek and he sat upright, coughing up the peanut. In the meantime, Billy had returned to his seat, stashed the peanuts behind him and pretended to be asleep. Megan couldn't help but laugh, her trying to stifle it behind her hand. Simon coughed back his own restraint in laughing and nonchalantly looked out the aircraft window.

Derek looked from the drool covered peanut in his hand and to the people seated in the aircraft. "Alright, who did that?" He looked to Pet, about to accuse her until he saw the blood freezing, animalistic eyes never blinking on him. "What?"

A single snort came from the hybrid.

* * *

Hours later, orange from the setting sun filled the aircraft's cabin, Megan leaning over in her seat to glance at the approaching skyline of San Diego. She smiled wildly. "We're here."

Pet grumbled and shifted in her seat to look out her own window. Judging by the encroaching lateness of the hour, it made no sense to conduct tests of any type at that time. "What time are these blood tests supposed to be?"

Simon, who had spaced out and was distracted with his own thoughts, blinked away the dryness in his eyes that had set in from prolonged staring. He turned his focus over to the questioning hybrid. "Pardon? Oh, right. Yes. The blood tests. First thing tomorrow morning." He turned in his seat to better view those seated in the back and continued. "Once we land, I have transportation waiting to take everyone to a nice hotel where I have made reservations. Hopefully the accommodations are to your liking."

Pet questioned, "Will we be staying in separate rooms?"

"Rooms?" Simon lightly laughed. "My dear Veronica, I reserved you and your friends suites."

* * *

Derek dropped his duffle bag at his feet in awe when studying the spacious and very spoiling features of the suite. "I can get used to traveling like this."

Billy side stepped past him to get a look at the room while too, setting his bag down on the floor. "Whoa."

The room was lengthy and spacious and decorated in a beige, cream and tan color scheme. A wide screen TV centered between two large windows sat on a mahogany stand along the far, outer wall. A beige couch and two matching chairs circled around a glass coffee table was in front of it, a basket plentiful of offered snacks sitting on the table.

Derek huffed a slight laugh. "I wonder what the bedroom looks like."

Billy spoke. "Rock, papers, scissors for who gets the bed."

"Screw you, Boy Scout, I call the bed!"

Both men looked to each other before pushing past the other in a dash to the bedroom.

Pet and Megan could hear the commotion from across the hallway, the hybrid sighing. "Guys."

Megan nodded, "Mhm," and gently sat her suitcase down on a couch. "This place is wonderful! I never thought I'd ever get to stay in a suite."

"You and me both," Pet responded with.

The comment surprised the aspiring scientist. "I find that unlikely."

Pet turned her attention away from one of the windows to study the other woman curiously. "What do you mean?"

"C'mon, Nica. Your dad was John Hammond for crying out loud!" She laughed. "I'm sure Mr. Hammond didn't travel lightly or cheaply, for that matter. What was his saying? Spare no expense? I heard Dr. Grant talk about him, a lot, from his experience when at the park. Said Mr. Hammond used that phrase a lot."

Pet nodded. "Yeah, kinda."

"But yeah. I would've thought suites were a common thing for you when traveling."

The hybrid shrugged and returned her gaze to the window to watch the passing by people a few floors down. "I wouldn't know. John never took me with him when he went places. I mostly just stayed behind. Leaving Kenya for the park islands was my first time really traveling. I don't count going to Mombasa. Those were usually just day trips Robert would bring me along on. I was more or less the black sheep John pretended didn't exist. Hell, he was barely ever around when I was growing up. I mean, yeah sure he was at the zoo a lot in Kenya but he was never really there, y'know? Like how a father should've been."

Megan frowned a little. "I'm sure running InGen and tending to the zoo and everything else kept him busy."

"No. It wasn't just running his company, traveling to and from places and managing the zoo's operations. He could be there in person, but not there like he should've been." Pet shrugged again. "It was like I didn't matter to him at the time."

Hearing the words leave her mouth left a bitter aftertaste, especially after knowing the things he had kept privately for so long in his journal. She still had a copy of the journal files from the flash drive and would seldom go back to re-read an entry or two. No matter how many times she read the journal entries, it were the videos that brought her to tears. Words could always be said and sometimes emptily, but to actually see the expression, the person's actions, made a bigger impact. To see him in the camera surveillance footage, crying and wiping at his eyes, let Pet know his real feelings. At least at that moment, anyway. What about the others?

The hybrid could feel her own eyes water up and blinked away the threatening tears. "We should probably unpack and get settled in. Simon said something about dinner shortly after getting situated in the rooms."

Megan felt regretful for bringing up something unknowingly painful for the other woman and nodded in agreement. "I wonder what he had in mind." She grabbed her suitcase off the couch.

"No idea. As long as its edible and not some of that fancy rich people stuff, I'm happy." Pet went to the bedroom and stood in the doorway. Megan joined her, both women looking at the two double beds. "Well at least there's two beds."

"That's a relief."


	202. A Different Life

**Thinking about it... I write too much filler... : / I have so much crap in my head, sometimes, that I just start writing out what's in it and the next thing I know I have another filler chapter written :( Sometimes, I plan on going into a chapter with the intent of it fulfilling something...other than filler... Sorry...**

* * *

**202 - A Different Life**

Pet's jaw dropped at the listed prices for appetizers on the restaurant's menu and calmly closed it, pushing it aside. Billy's face contorted into an amused confusion watching her. Her reaction was either in part to the prices, item names which even he could barely pronounce or the item descriptions. Even he was a bit squeamish about a couple of the appetizers. Whatever happened to the usual items like cheese sticks or fried onion blossoms?

Derek skimmed the menu items and found something appealing. A cutlet of steak always sounded good. He closed the menu, smiling, and looked to Pet. "Know what you want?"

Her blue green eyes looked to her good friend, questioning him on whether or not he was serious. "I don't even know what some of that stuff is."

"That's why you ask."

Pet lowered her gaze. "I'll stick with a soup and salad. I'm trying not to go over a hundred dollars in dinner."

Simon, still deciding on what he wanted, mindlessly waved a hand dismissively. "Think nothing about the cost. My treat. Have whatever you like."

Derek opened his menu to the steak section. "There's three different types of steak, Pet. Twelve ounce, 16 and 18. I'm sure if you asked, they could bring it out still mooing with the hooves attached." A spiteful glare was all he got in response.

The hybrid rolled her eyes at the man and opened her menu back up to study the steak selection for herself. "Oh hey look, a 12 ounce steak costs about as much as your car, Derek. A 16 ounce costs about as much as a travel home and hey, if you happen to have enough spare change laying around for a mansion in the county, you can get the 18 ounce."

Simon gazed up from his menu to intently study the hybrid. "A bit on exaggeration, don't you think?" He closed his menu and sat it down beside his water glass. "The steak here is well worth the cost, I assure you." He could see how uncomfortable the hybrid was and felt a bit guilty because of it. "Surely this isn't your first time in a restaurant such as this?"

The hybrid stared in disbelief at the man. "Prior to this, my nicest dinner experience was a place Alan took me to back in Montana and even then this place makes that look like the dollar menu of a fast food joint." Simon lowered his brow at the woman in contemplation. "The cost of one appetizer, here, is about how much I spend for an appetizer, dinner plate and desert with two margaritas at my favorite Italian restaurant..."

Derek's face was buried in his hand, the man speechless, as Billy continued to snicker at the woman. Megan could relate to Pet and bit her lips together when nodding. Should she just stick with a salad or splurge for a soup, too? Even though the dinner was meant to be a treat from the man who could more than easily pay for it all with just his pocket change, it still didn't feel right getting whatever she wanted.

* * *

After dinner, the group of friends returned to their rooms, Pet plopping down on the couch. Every since that afternoon and the mention of having to go to the lab at InGen, the woman had been lost in thought. She was genuinely scared and that wasn't something common for her. Now, more than ever, she wanted her closest friends there with her to comfort her. Despite what Simon told her about being under his protection, she still felt uncertain about going into the heart of the company that tried to kill her in the past. She'd feel a lot better knowing Grant or Muldoon were there with her, but they were busy with their own affairs.

Thinking about her guardian and closest friend also not coming along for the trip made Pet further depressed. Was his assisting in planning out the new park paddocks that important that he couldn't stop for a couple days to join her? It wasn't like him to be so dismissive and unconcerned about her business. Of all the people she figured wanting to go along on the trip, it'd have been him. Nope. As he explained to her, he needed to figure out and finish the things he was asked to help with for the new park.

She could, but couldn't understand Grant not wanting to go. Sure, the dig site's first funding check from Simon was due to hit any day and as much as it was needed, couldn't a day or two be spared? The more Pet thought about her closest loved ones declining to go to San Diego, the more lonely she felt. She really couldn't say abandoned, given all they had done for her, so lonely was the closest and least punishing of descriptions she could use.

Pet could hear Megan humming to herself in the bathroom before a shower and began to think about her. In the past months, she had been gradually becoming one of the group. Since she and Billy had become a couple, they were almost inseparable. Perhaps this trip would be a good way to introduce the other woman to who and what she, Pet, really was. It was just a concern on how she would take it.

Making up her mind, Pet got off the couch and went across the hall to the guys' suite room. She could hear the two be rowdy and laughing as though playing a video game. It wouldn't be a surprise if Derek did pack his game station in his duffle bag to play when the opportunity permitted. A loud belch interrupted the chatter followed by loud laughter. The hybrid hung her head and sighed.

She knocked a few times on the door, each time getting louder, before she finally got an answer. Billy met Pet's unimpressed gaze and awkwardly smiled. "Hi...I guess. What's up?"

Derek called out, "Who is it? Is it room service brining some more beer up?" Pet pushed past the junior scientist to glare at the other man. "Hi Pet."

The blue green eyes of the woman studied the glass table riddled with beer cans and small bottles of various liquors. "Seriously, Derek? Where the hell did you get all those liquor bottles?"

"Have you seen the mini fridge bar? Its awesome."

Billy side stepped past the woman to reclaim his spot on the couch where his gaming controller sat. "Speaking of, if you or Meg don't want anything in the mini bar-"

"I'll cut you," Pet interrupted. Having learned there was a mini bar in the room, she planned to see what was offered.

"Okay," Billy hastily answered with.

The hybrid sat down between the two guys, Derek groaning and trying to push Pet out of the way so he could see the TV. Once seated, the woman was able to see them playing a car racing game. This was going to be a long night. Trying to talk to either of them while they were drinking and gaming was not going to happen. Might as well wait and bring up the topic tomorrow when the conditions were more favorable.

* * *

Next morning, the quiet air was shattered by the room's phone obnoxiously ringing. Pet mumbled under her breath and started slapping a hand around on the night stand for the alarm clock. Constant hitting on the alarm wasn't turning it off, Megan groaning, "I think that's the room phone going off..."

Pet forced her head off the much too comfortable pillow to look for the phone. Sure enough, the other woman was right. A red light flashed in conjunction to the ringing. She answered it, groggily stating, "Hello."

The much too cheerful voice of Simon answered back. "Good morning, Veronica!"

"What..."

"In an hour and a half, personal transportation will be arriving to the hotel to pick up you and your companions to bring you to InGen." He sounded way too happy for Pet's liking.

She lazily rolled her eyes over to the alarm, the red digital numbers reading 6:00 AM. "Its too early. Can't I snooze for just a little while longer?"

Apparently not.

An hour and a half later, the four people were downstairs and loading up in a limo. Megan appeared as though enjoying the spoils of the rich. As was Derek and Billy. Pet couldn't care as she leaned her head back, closing her eyes.

"Wake me when we get there," she yawned. But sleep wasn't happening, as much as she strongly desired it.

Giving up, she watched the passing by scenery and was jaw dropped. San Diego was so much bigger than she thought. Her blue green eyes hardly blinked when darting between windows to see everything she could of the surrounding city. Sky scrapers rose high above the streets and some of the nearby buildings as their reflective surfaces mirrored the morning sun and sky.

Shopping malls, restaurants and other miscellaneous stores quickly grabbed the hybrid's attention. All of her wanted to go into those places, if not just to look around. Maybe do some shopping, too, should time permit. She suddenly desired to sit in a coffee shop, sipping on an iced mocha coffee and eating a chocolate iced donut. So much she suddenly wanted to do, all of which she had longed to do in a personal quest to feel more normal.

Seated across from her was Derek, his ever attentive watch noticing the sparkle filling her eyes with wonder. A faint smile teased the corners of his lips. Seeing how he knew the San Diego area well, he began making plans in his head on things he and the others could do. After all, she had never really been allowed to go out and enjoy herself in a place such as this. He was sure the others at the dig site wouldn't mind if he gave the hybrid a bit of a sight seeing.

Just as the spark formed in the hybrid's eyes, it faded when approaching InGen. The hybrid sunk in her seat and frowned in dread. She didn't care about the blood tests or whatever other tests Jacobs was wanting to do. It was going into the building she had always felt was her death that worried her.

Derek, too, saw this. He prided himself in being decent at reading people and sometimes, Pet was overly obvious in what she was thinking. "Hey," he quietly said. "It'll be alright. You've got me here, remember?"

The hybrid forcefully smiled. "How could I forget? Your big mouth wont let me."

The man loudly went on, "La, la, la, la, la, la," as Billy shook his head and Megan rolled her eyes.


	203. InGen vs Pet

**Oh f**cking squee did I have so much fun writing this chapter. I'm still all giggly about it. I'm just watching it all play out in my head as I'm trying to write out the details to it in a way that the readers can visualize. LOVE the ending. I'm all tingly about it and I haven't been this way about a chapter in a long time. Squee, just squee *girlish giggles* **

* * *

**203 - InGen versus Pet**

Standing on the front steps leading to the glass doors of InGen's headquarters was Simon, dressed in a light blue suit and white shirt, with a welcoming smile on his face. He greeted the new arrivals and motioned to the building. "Come in! Come in! Dr. Jacobs is waiting for you in the lab, Veronica."

Each step nearer to the doors weighed heavier to Pet. It felt as though lead weights were tied to her ankles, holding her back. She could feel her knees weaken, her heartbeat explode in her chest her breath become labored. Was she having an anxiety attack? She was now a few feet shy of entering the building and physically unable to take another step. Her eyes stayed locked onto one of the metal handles of a door, her rubbing her sweaty palms on her pants.

A gentle hand resting itself on her shoulder snapped her out of her trance and she looked up to meet the warm, comforting chocolate eyes of Derek. He sincerely smiled and took hold of her hand, guiding her to follow. He opened the door and the whoosh of the building's cool air rushed past her. Her breath caught in her chest when she looked around, realizing she was now inside the one building she just knew she'd never enter. Doing so would cost her life, or so she thought back in the day, and it was probably true. But now, things were different.

A part of her mentally imagined teams of armed security personnel lined up inside the door, guns at the ready should she try anything stupid. Such as was obviously not the case. People in suits mingled about, conducting their business, paying no mind to the group. A part of Pet relaxed, but not completely. She still remained on alert.

A suited gentlemen with a head full of neatly groomed, dark hair and bright blue eyes framed behind glasses approached the new comers. Derek instantly recognized him from a previous encounter; Mr. Stevens. A surge of anger filled the young man when remembering his first time ever meeting this man. His anger subconsciously caused him to tighten his grip on Pet's hand.

She winced a little and tried to withdraw her hand from his. When the woman looked to his enraged, brown eyes and jaw clenched features she came to the realization something wasn't right. Her curiosity turned her focus to the suited man closing in on her and her friends and furrowed her brow. Who was this guy? Her nostrils began to flare in heavy breaths of building aggression. Whoever it was, she didn't like them already seeing how Derek was already on edge in just his approaching them.

Icy blue eyes refused to leave the blue green ones of the hybrid staring him down. She shouldn't be here. She should be dead. Had things worked out, she would've been dead years ago. And yet, here she was standing before him in all that made her an abomination and disgrace to InGen. Stevens could taste the bile of his rising anger in the back of his throat. Oh how he longed to see this pathetic creature dead. How or why she was allowed to live was beyond him. He had such great hopes for things improving for the company once Mr. Masrani took over. Apparently not.

Stevens stopped shy of where the group stood, the icy chill of his piercing gaze lingering on Pet's analytical one before shifting over to the tempered brown eyes of Derek. The company executive forced out the worst attempt at a smile and spoke as though disgusted. "Mr. Muldoon."

"Mr. Stevens," Derek snarled out.

"I see you're back and..." he bit his tongue to refrain from sounding too unprofessional. After all, Masrani was standing right there and glaring at him scornfully. "Doing well, it seems."

Derek's patience gasket blew and his anger exploded. In the blink of an eye, he had landed a forceful punch to Steven's otherwise snooty expressive face. The vigor behind it sent the executive stumbling backwards a few feet and almost to the floor, had he not regained his sense of balance before hand.

Stevens instantly brought a hand to the throbbing source of pain at his jaw and tasted blood. A sting of pain at his lip let him know his bottom lip had been busted, as well. Hate filled eyes of the suited man locked onto Derek. He wanted to order a nearby security guard to remove the offending bounty hunter from the corporation premises and opened his mouth to do so.

He wiped at the bead wet warmth on his lip and breathlessly laughed. "Guess I deserved that."

"You deserve worse, you son of a bitch," Derek growled. He slimmed his eyes down on the older man. "Why don't you tell Ms Hammond, here, what role you had to play some years back with a particular hunting party and Isla Sorna...Hmm? I think she'd want to hear all about it."

Simon's once warm and welcoming demeanor had turned cold and callous. He knew all too well what this man had done and almost did and most likely, still wanted to do. It was because of that the arrangement of a face to face meeting between Stevens and the hybrid was a must. The billionaire had been constantly told that the hybrid was too unpredictable and too animalistic to be allowed in public. He refused to believe it. His dark and testy watch shifted to where the woman stood, unnervingly motionless. He expected her eyes to like that of a raptor's only to find they were the more normal blue green. Everything about her, at that moment, reminded him of a predator preparing to attack its prey. Her deepened brow, the acidic scowl on her face, the twitch of her upper lip wanting to curl and the flare of her nostrils from heavy breathing all spoke of her true desires. And yet, to remain focused enough to keep her eyes from changing was a remarkable show of self control. A cocked smile in his pride of the woman's self control over the animal within subtly shown through his goatee.

Stevens licked the residual blood from his bottom lip and titled a nod of his head to the woman. "Ms Hammond. I'm sure Mr. Muldoon, here, has told you plenty about me."

An unrestrained hiss of a screech came from the hybrid. Passerby within ear range in the lobby casually gave her a glance, but the hybrid didn't care. No one else in the building existed, in that exact moment, other than the demon of a man before her.

Stevens continued. "Nothing personal, Ms. I was merely acting in the company's best interest, given what I had been told from my predecessor, Mr. Ludlow." He was choking on every word he was saying. His throat constricted and he found swallowing to be hard. Oh the level of hate that filled his every being. He outstretched a hand, eyes thinning into malicious slits when continuing. "No hard feelings..."

Pet's fists were so tightly clenched, her dulled claws were close to puncturing the skin of her palms. She snorted aggressively. Her friends' breaths were held in anticipation of what the woman would do. Simon made a quick visual study of where the security guards were located should he need their assistance. A couple of them standing near the customer service counter, roughly 20 feet away, were already aware of the potential level of the situation and were prepared to act.

Pet relaxed her fist and flexed out her sore fingers, a guttural growl barely audible. She accepted the outstretched hand, hissing a snort. "No hard feelings, huh?" Her grip tightened around his hand, her dulled claws digging into the top of his hand. "Try telling that to the families of those killed by the men you sent down to hunt me. To Robert when your hunter shot him..."

When Stevens jerked his hand away from hers, her claws raked across his hand, peeling back bit of skin and drawing a little blood.

He cradled his hand next to his chest, briefly looking at the damage done before looking to her in wide eyed, rage. "Why you-"

"I would say blood for blood, _Mr. Stevens_, but I fear you have nothing to offer in exchange for the innocent blood spilt those days on Isla Sorna." She took a step closer to him to stare him deeply in his eyes. "Every time you look down at your hand for the next several days, remember..."

Stevens watched her eyes morph from the blue green to the golden yellow of the animal within her. A shutter ran down his spine and instantly froze his blood in his veins. She rolled her eyes closed and slowly opened them to reveal their previous normal color.

The woman turned her attention to Simon and examined him from the corner of her eyes. He planned this, anticipating how she'd act. Scheming bastard, he was. She squared her watch down on him in respective amusement and cocked a sideways smile, scoffing.

She spoke. "We should get down to Dr. Jacobs for these blood tests. I'm ready to get the hell out of here and into a coffee shop."

Derek blinked his heated glare off Stevens, still cringing, and to the hybrid in surprise. "Wait, what? A coffee shop? Why do you want to go to a coffee shop?"

Pet turned herself around just enough to meet the baffled man's eyes. "I can't begin to tell you how bad I want an iced mocha coffee and chocolate glazed donut." She pushed past Stevens, harshly elbowing him in the process when following an uncertain Simon through the lobby.

Behind her and Derek stood Billy and Megan, the woman holding onto the man's arm in shock of what just happened. There was definitely more that what met the eye to this bizarrely intriguing young woman.

The group stepped into the elevator, Simon selecting the appropriate floor's button. Before the door's closed, he and Pet studied the other in a new found respect, both smirking to the other.

* * *

***Squees***


	204. All The Tests

**Last chapter for the night...er, early AM. Its only 1:30 AM o.O I'm tired and my brain needs a break from pushing out 4 chapters today, 3 of which were from this afternoon / evening. After these couple or so more San Diego chapters, its back to leading up to Jurassic World and the building of the new park.**

* * *

**204 - All The Tests**

"One...two..." Jacobs held the syringe's needle at the inside bend of Pet's elbow and, "Three," punctured the skin and into the vein. Rich red blood began to fill the empty vial within the syringe.

The hybrid sighed and drummed her other hand's fingers on her thigh. "You know, I don't need the needle countdown, Doc. I'm not that little kid from the zoo, anymore."

"So I've learned," when referring to his first time seeing her some time back after years of not. He saw the engagement ring on her finger, half expecting to see a wedding ring this time. While waiting for the vial to fill, he scanned the many faces watching him from the other side of the room. "Where's your fiancé?"

"Busy," the hybrid snapped back. "Taking care of business at the dig site."

Jacobs swapped out the full vial for an empty one, a technician sealing and labeling the full one. The Dr. continued his conversing. "I trust all is going well, there?"

"Better, now that Mr. Masrani's generous funding has provided much needed aide." The woman studied the Dr's paling features beneath a lowered brow.

As close as he was to her, she could hear his rapid heartbeat and smell his fear. He was afraid of her. She never liked people being afraid of her, for it only reminded her of what she was and was capable of beneath the human like features caging the beast within. Even though she enjoyed this disliked man being on edge around her, remembering what he had done to help save her put her arrogant thoughts back in check.

She inhaled and exhaled a steady breath, resuming in a more friendlier tone. "What was next on the check up list after this?"

"A few things, actually." Pet arching a brow insisted the man continue. "But we'll get to those later. First things first."

* * *

Four hours later, Pet sat, blank faced and staring distantly off at the floor. Seated next to her was Derek, arms crossed over his chest. He nudged an elbow at the hybrid. "You alright?"

"I feel so violated," she breathlessly stated. "Who knew there were so many tests."

The man leaned in closer to whisper to his friend, "For what it's worth, I wont tell Dr. Grant how Jacobs and his technician-"

"Shut up, shit head. You'll disappear if you ever say a single, damn thing to anyone about this, got it? Especially to Alan..."

Derek couldn't take the hybrid seriously, even though her stern glare told him he should, and bit back a snicker. "Okay, Pet." He lightly patted her on the head, causing her to snort a hiss at him.

The two sat there in silence, paying no attention to the team of geneticists working in the windowed lab across from where they sat. That was, until a familiar voice of a man hit Pet's ears. She had heard that voice before, but from where? The longer she sat there, intently listening to the man talk from somewhere down the hallway, the more she kept trying to place the voice.

Derek noticed the woman's head perk up at an angle. "What is it?"

"Shh," she hissed back and stood up, slowly nearing a corner in the hallway.

Unable to hold back her curiosity anymore, the hybrid peered around see a tall, Asian man talking to a lab technician. She knew this man, though a face once long lost from her past. She had had a good working relationship with him when at Jurassic Park. She and Muldoon were constantly going to his lab to retrieve new specimens once old enough to be removed the nursery.

Pet blurted, "Dr. Wu?!" without intending to interrupt his conversation.

The addressed man stopped talking with the technician to face the source of calling. A shy and frail smile greeted him. He had been informed how she was to be visiting for lab work and quite honestly, was hoping to bump into her.

He smiled back in an odd sort of way and excused himself from his conversing with the technician. "Veronica, is it, now?"

Pet excitedly nodded and rushed to the scientist, colliding against him in a tight hug. "How good it is to see you!"

Dr. Wu was thrown off by the woman's gesture and patted her on the back with his available hand. In his other was a clipboard holding important paperwork from his latest work. "I heard you would be coming here, today. How have you been doing these past years?"

"Where do you want me to start," the woman laughed out. She was hoping he really didn't want to know, considering how long it'd take her to go through everything. Then came the possibility of her getting riled up in anger over it and she didn't want to shake her good mood. "Other than the here and there things, I've been doing well. I'm living in Montana, now." She held up her left hand and wiggled her ring finger. "I'm engaged, too."

Wu wasn't expecting the latter news and arched his brows in surprise. Who did she find that would want to marry her? Sure, she was an alright person back when he knew her, but she was 18 then and people change over the years. Seriously, though, who could overcome what she was to want to marry her? He felt ashamed for thinking of her as anything less than a person, given how much of a science break through she was, but she was part Velociraptor. Wouldn't that bother someone?

He smiled, none the less, as excitedly as he could. "Wow. That's incredible." The mix of his smile and furrowed brow of bewilderment matched his blown away tone of voice. "To who, if I might ask?"

Blush filled the woman's cheeks. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she teased girlishly.

"Try me," he taunted, expression contorting into eagerness.

"He came to the park as part of John's little assessment team."

Wu's features shattered into dread. "Please don't tell me Dr. Malcolm."

Pet's smile faltered, a bit, as she blinked in mentally repeating what the man had just said. "Y'know, this is how people disappear without a trace in the middle of the night."

Was that a threat? As he recalled, she always had an off sense of humor. "I take that as a no, then."

"Of course its a no." She huffed a laugh. "I'm engaged to Dr. Grant."

The mental image of all the dreams of the aspiring paleontologists being swept away by the renowned scientist being shattered filled Wu's head. "How in the world did you manage that?" He was truly lost on the coincidence of it.

"I honestly don't know," Pet breathed out, shaking her head and shoving her hands in her pockets. "Shit happens, I guess."

"Yeah, something like that." He blinked in dismay.

Jacobs called from behind Wu in his approaching the hybrid. "Ah, Ms Hammond. I have the results from your tests."

The woman's smile became a placid, blank stare. "Which ones?"

"All of them," the man proudly beamed. "Shall we discuss the results in private?"

"Is there anything really private left about me after-"

Wu cut in. "Excuse me, I need to get back to work." He really didn't like the other man one bit and was more than eager to put some distance between them. "Good to see you again, Veronica." The scientist disappeared down the hallway in the opposite direction in a flurry of white lab coat.

The hybrid silently stood where she had been left with the all too smug Jacobs, seething at the man's presence. "I'll inform Mr. Masrani the results are in. He was curious to hear how the tests went." He whisked past the mortified woman and past where she and Derek had been sitting to where his office was not too far away.

Pet's head drooped to shame as she shuffled behind him. "Can we please not? I'd like to keep some dignity about me, after the poking, prodding, scrapping, scanning, squeezing and blood letting you've done to me today. I seriously feel like I've been violated today."


	205. Getting A Life

**Well I kind of achieved the purpose of the chapter...**

* * *

**2****05 - Getting A Life**

Simon looked over the test results in his hands, after having them explained to him by Jacobs, and awkwardly glanced over at the hybrid. She tried to hide her flustered face with her hand as she sunk lower into the chair.

He cleared his throat and sat the papers back on the geneticist's office desk. "At least everything came out normal."

Pet whimpered.

Jacobs, relishing in the delight of the hybrid being uncomfortable, smiled and nodded to the wealthy man. "Yes, sir."

"Is there anything else you need Ms Hammond for?"

Jacobs met the daring, raptor eyed gawk solely aimed at him. He wanted to say yes, to further agonize the woman for all the times Muldoon bullied him, but refrained. "No, sir, she's free to go." The hybrid leapt to her feet and was heading for the door when the Dr. calling after her stopped her. "Uh, Ms Hammond..." A growl in warning replied back. "See you in six months."

A barked hiss later, the woman was out of the room and in the hallway. Derek saw her from where he was sitting and went to join her. "So... how did it go?" He smirked.

The hybrid replied in a threatening tone. "There are not enough words in any language's dictionary that can describe how badly I want to disembowel you, right now."

"Oh, so everything went great, did it?" He clapped the woman on the shoulder. "Good to hear."

"I hate you," Pet breathed out and strode away.

She left the lab and went to where Billy and Megan had been waiting, not surprised to find both people lounged out in their seats and asleep against the other. Pet gave a light nudge to the man's foot to wake him and sat down herself. The junior scientist lazily opened an eyes to see an exhausted pair stare back at him.

He sat up, waking Megan in the process. "Heya, girlie. How'd it go?"

"Don't ask what you don't want to know," Pet answered. "Anyway, I'm free to go so I'm ready to get out of and as far away from this place as possible."

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

The first stop after leaving InGen was a coffee shop. Just as Pet had expressed wanting to do, she fulfilled and with as much enjoyment as she could down to the last sprinkle on her second donut. Afterwards, the group requested their hired chauffeur to take them to the closest mall. Though Pet didn't have much money to spend, she still had something she had been saving over the past few months and planned to spend it wisely. Or so she hoped.

Three hundred and seventy five dollars total was spent over the course of two hours throughout several department stores. She was down to less than $75, now, and frowned. There was still so much she wanted to do.

While Derek and Billy toyed around with a couple of RC helicopters outside a clothing store, Megan and Pet went inside the store to look around. The hybrid took a sip of her strawberry smoothie and looked at a black cocktail dress displayed on a mannequin.

She liked how it looked and had been wanting a nice yet casual dress to wear should an occasion arise for it. "I wonder how much this dress is."

Megan looked through a nearby rack to find the displayed dress and called out, "$42.99"

Should she choose to get it, it'd leave her with hardly any money afterwards and Pet frowned. It was a pretty dress. "Think it'll go good with those ankle boots I got, earlier?"

"It should. I don't see why not."

Pet began nosing around the dresses for the right size, smiling when she found one. "Perfect."

After trying it on and pleased with how well it fit, she bought it. Megan had found her own nice dress to buy, it being a light blue skirt with white rhinestones along its halter styled neckline. She wrapped an arm around Pet's and smiled dreamingly. "We need to go out tonight. Go dance...get our drink on...just unwind."

"I'm down for that."

"Think Derek knows of any good clubs around here?"

Pet shrugged. "I don't know. Thinking about it, I wouldn't be able to go to any place like that anyway."

"Why not?" Megan studied her worrisome friend.

"I don't have any type of identification on me."

"No driver's license or state issued ID?" Pet shook her head. "Nothing?" The other woman was surprised. "Wow. That sucks."

Then Pet had an idea, but kept it to herself. Hopefully, it'd work.

Once back outside, the girls rejoined the guys and went to another mall. Pet didn't spend any money, seeing how she was trying to hold on to what little she had left. An hour later, she and the others were back at the hotel, but she didn't stay for a long. It took her longer than she'd have liked for the driver to return to the hotel to pick her up.

Meanwhile, upstairs in the hotel, Derek noticed the hybrid gone when wanting to discuss his plans for the evening. His attention shifted between Billy and Megan. "Where's Pet?"

* * *

Not long afterwards Pet was back at InGen and staring Simon in the face. He tapped the top of his wooden base, gold topped pen on his desk and studied the anxious hybrid. "You're wanting what, now? A life?"

The woman sighed. "Yeah. A life, an identification...something to prove that I'm...alive, I guess you could say. As it stands, now, I can't get a driver's license even though I'm capable of driving a car. I can't get a driver's license because I have no proof of existence like a birth certificate and I can't get that because, well... look at me! I can't do anything because of how I was created and what I am."

She had a point and the man could understand. "So what are you asking me, Veronica?"

"Help me with getting a proof of existence that wont completely reveal what I am to the world. Can't you do something?"

He had never seen such urgency or desperation in the woman's eyes before and wasn't sure if what she was asking was possible. There was so much required for what she was requesting.

"And thinking about it," she continued, "It was going to come down to me needing an ID eventually, seeing how Alan and I are going to need a marriage license here whenever we can get around to affording a wedding. I was looking up what all is needed for that and sheesh...yeah..."

The deep in thought man quietly sat his pen down and struggled with how to explain his thoughts to the pleading woman. "I'll see what I can do, but I can't guarantee anything. Like you said, you're going to need a birth certificate and that requires your parent's name. Proving your relation to John Hammond shouldn't be an issue. Just match your DNA to his on file. As far as a mother goes, that is a different problem. There's no other _human_ DNA about you capable of tying you to a mother."

Pet shrugged. "Just leave that part blank?" She winced at the piercing dark eyes studying her in debate. "What else can we do? Can't exactly put Velociraptor on a birth certificate...Nor test tube baby, on there."

"Don't," he sternly cut in. "Don't ever refer to yourself as that again. You are a living, breathing being just like the rest of us."

The woman chewed at her bottom lip and timidly looked away. "Sorry."

"Again, I'll have to see what I can do." He didn't like how disheartened the hybrid appeared. She seemed so emotionally frail and on the brink of tears. "I'll make a few phone calls, here in a little bit, and we can further discuss this over dinner tonight."

Blue green eyes blinked away the threatening tears to lock onto the dark gaze still settled on her. "Wait, what? Dinner?" Oh no, not another one of those fancy restaurants will food costing as much as a mortgage payment. "Oh, well, uh..."

Simon held up a hand to silence her. "It wont be anything like last night, I assure you. You and I come from different life styles, Veronica, and I'm aware of that. I know you prefer meat in your diet, so I'll make arrangements at a steak house closer to your comfort levels." He warmly smiled at the speechless woman. He glanced down at his wrist watch to see it was nearing 4:15. "Does seven-o-clock sound good?"

The woman fought to get her mouth to function enough for comprehensible words. Stutters later, she nodded, instead. Gulping back her anxiety, she forced composure over herself. "Whatever works best for you." Her smile trembled.

"Excellent. I'll meet you at the hotel at 7, then."

With that, Pet felt she was being dismissed and stood up to leave. "Thank you for at least trying to help me."

"I haven't done anything, yet."

This time, the hybrid genuinely smiled her fullest. "You've done more, already, then anyone could ever ask for. You owe me nothing, yet you continuously help me."

Simon, too, stood up and went to where the woman stood. "I owe it to Mr. Hammond. He was always so generous and so giving to my father and I. I never really thanked him for all that he did and I regret that even to this day. I've come to realize how much you meant to him, so what better way to show my appreciation for his kindness than to do what I can for his daughter?"

Pet felt like such a squishy little girl as she stood there, teary eyed and unable to speak.

The moment between the two was broken by the office phone blaring. Simon wanted to ignore it, but couldn't. He reached over and hit the speaker button, seeing it was from his secretary. "Yes?"

A pleasant sounding woman answered. "Sir, sorry to bother, but a Derek Muldoon is on hold."

The man rolled his eyes to the smiling and head shaking young woman. "Put him through," he replied.

Pet tossed a thumb to the office door. "I better get going. Thanks again."

She waved farewell to the man before walking away, hearing him explaining things to Derek over the phone.


	206. Matter of Trust

**206 - Matter of Trust**

"Don't you _ever_ do that again, do you hear me?" Derek stood before Pet with his hands on his hips and a face matching his red shirt. "Damn it, Pet, you scared the shit out of me! Out of all of us, for that matter!" He threw an arm in the direction of where Billy and Megan quietly sat around the kitchenette bar. "I was about to call Uncle Rob and Dr. Grant and tell them you were missing! Do you know how well that would've gone over?" He ran his hands over his face and through his slightly disheveled brown hair.

Billy spoke up. "Why didn't you tell us where you were going?"

Pet sighed. "Because I didn't think it mattered to anyone else, but me! It was my business to take care of!"

Derek spun around to re-face the woman. "You still could've told us where you were going! That's the point in all of this! Communication!"

The hybrid crossed her arms over her chest and cocked an inquisitive brow. "Really? And here I thought it was about you not wanting to get in trouble with Robert and Alan."

The man took a deep breath and shrugged, nodding. "That, too. Uncle Rob scares the shit out of me and something tells me not to get on Dr. Grant's bad side."

Billy huffed a laugh. "Its best not to. He's quite a different person when pissed."

"He'd know," Pet concluded. "It took him sacrificing himself to a group of Pteranodon and saving Alan's hat before he was forgiven," her gaze fell on a deviously smiling Billy, "for his epic fuck up on Isla Sorna!"

Billy laughed and scratched at the back of his neck. "Yeah, about that."

Pet shook her head.

Derek continued. "_Anyway!_" He returned to his previous stance and scornfully gawked at the hybrid. "From now on, _tell someone where you're going!_"

"Yes, Daddy," the woman snorted out. "Now, since you've gotten that out of your system...Can I have something to say?"

Dark eyes of the bounty hunter slimmed down on the hybrid. "I don't know... maybe if you call me daddy, again." Pet punched him in the chest. "Or not," he wheezed.

"I was thinking of telling Megan."

At hearing her name, the brunette perked her head up and looked to the other woman. "Hmm, what?"

Billy's surprised expression bounced between his three friends. "Wait, you mean tell her, tell her? What you told me, tell her?"

Poor Megan was absolutely lost and confused, wondering if she should be worried or not. "Tell me what?"

* * *

Trying to breathe had suddenly become difficult over the past several minutes. Megan sat, head cradled in her propped up hands, as she listened to everything told to her. She had always suspected there was something different about the woman, but could never have suspected _this!_

"Oh boy," she breathed out. "Oh boy, oh boy..." She sat up, head spinning and everything around her a blur. Well, almost everything. All she could clearly see were the two sickle claws stare back at her from the raptor like feet. Megan deeply breathed again. "Okay..."

Billy tried to comfort the mortified woman. "You going to be alright?"

The woman nodded. "Yeah, just need a minute."

Pet grabbed Derek's left wrist and looked at the time on his wrist watch. It was a little past 6 PM. Derek was confused. "Something going on?"

"Yeah. I'm going to go take a shower and get ready." The hybrid slipped back on her hiking boots and darted out of the men's suite and to her own.

"For what?" But an answer never came.

* * *

By 7:15, Pet was dressed and ready to go. She decided to wear her newly bought black cocktail dress, since she felt a little underdressed at last night's dinner, and examined herself in the bathroom mirror. She debated on wearing her hair up, but kept it down instead to hide the coloration pattern on her back. Not like it really mattered since her shoulders and upper arms were exposed. Maybe Megan wouldn't mind it if she borrowed her black lacy shoulder wrap.

The hybrid emerged from the bedroom to see everyone had relocated themselves to the living room of her and Megan's suite. Billy saw the woman first. "You look nice."

Derek's relaxed expression quickly formed into complete astonishment. "Where are you going dressed like that?"

Remembering their previous conversation, Pet answered. "I'm going to dinner with Simon to discuss some things."

"To dinner, or to bed?"

He knew it was coming and braced for the sharp smack upside his head. "Leave it to you, you little shit, to look too much into things!"

"What did you expect? Have you seen what you're wearing?! Girls going to discuss some things with a disgustingly rich guy don't dress like that!" He admired the curves of the woman that the body hugging dress accentuated. "You do look nice, though."

"Thank you," Pet exclaimed. She looked to Megan and sympathetically smiled, seeing how her friend was still a little shaken up about the revelation. "How are you holding up?"

Glazed over blue eyes tried their best to smile reassuringly. "Fine, I guess. Still trying to get my mind to wrap around everything."

Pet smiled in return, figuring it best to not ask about the shoulder wrap. "Sorry we didn't say something sooner. This is something that we try to keep amongst ourselves. Its a bit of a trust issue thing, given the sensitivity of it."

The other woman nodded in understanding. "I figured as much. Thanks for trusting me enough to tell me."

They smiled to the other, a knock at the suite door startling Pet. She stared offensively at the door and snorted a hiss at it. Derek spoke up. "That's probably your buddy." He answered the door to find himself right. "Heya," he greeted the black suited billionaire with. "Hey Pet, Mr. Si-Money is here!"

Another hit to the back of the head. "You can be such a little shit, sometimes." She smiled at the man while her and Derek continued to hit each other. "Sorry, I was just on my way to the lobby."

Simon watched the two, resembling something more along the lines of rival siblings, and was at a loss of what to say. "Its fine." What sounded like a painful hit from Derek echoed from Pet's shoulder. The woman's smile twitched to a snarl as she landed her own blow to the man's side. The thud of the impact furrowed Simon's brow, Derek grabbing at his side. "I got here earlier than expected."

"Brat," Derek huffed out.

"Jerk," Pet spat back. Her seemingly innocent smiled returned. "Shall we?"

* * *

**Sorry for such a short chapter. Had I kept going, it would've possibly been a long chapter what with the dinner and post bits included. Derek is Derek and being himself in the next part.**


	207. Night Out on the Town

**207 - Night Out on the Town**

Pet tried to keep her full attention on what Simon was saying, but that attention dropped a little each time she was pelted with a piece of ice. She could see her dinner companion was getting just as annoyed as she was by the constant interruptions and calmly sat her fork down in her salad bowl.

Another piece of ice hit the woman, this time on the shoulder. It bounced off her and landed into her salad, triggering an annoyed snort from her. She politely smiled to Simon before ripping her focus over to where a familiar red shirt sat at the bar, two tables away from where her table was. Derek stirred his drink with a straw, trying to appear as innocent as possible.

Simon heaved a sigh. "Do you want to handle this or shall I?"

Pet shook her head and spoke behind a clenched jaw. "He's just being a little shit." She glanced down at her salad and removed the piece of ice, laying it aside on a spare plate. The hybrid proceeded to aggressively stab several leaves of lettuce and slammed them down into her bowl of ranch dressing on the side. "He's a like a fly, y'know? Keeps buzzing around you while you're trying to eat...being obnoxious. After shooing it away, enough, it goes and pesters someone else."

"I usually squash the fly," Simon coolly replied, a glint in his dark eyes.

Pet huffed a snicker and shoved the lettuce packed fork into her mouth. A piece of ice zoomed in front of her face and hit the salt and pepper rack seated at the back of the table. She wiped her face and sat her cloth napkin down beside her salad.

"I'll be right back," she stated and slid out of her chair.

Derek took a sip of his drink and had just sat it down on the bar when Pet sat down on a stool next to him. Her squared down blue green eyes picked apart his startled expression. "Sup." He tossed a glance over to an impatient Simon and bit out a smile.

"Fancy seeing you here."

"Isn't it, though?" Disliking the edge in the other man's piercing gaze, Derek stared down at his drink sparse of ice.

Pet tracked a nearby waiter supporting a tray with a half full glass of ice water on it and began scheming. She kept the man in her peripheral vision while speaking to her obnoxious friend. "Of all the places to go, why here?"

"What do you mean?" He refused to meet the woman in the eye, otherwise he'd have noticed the blue green becoming more yellow.

"You know exactly what I mean," she growled into his ear, hissing out the last word.

The waiter walked by, oblivious to the woman's plan, Pet grabbing the glass. Before he could say anything or stop her, the glass was poured down the back of the seated man's pants. Derek yelped at the suddenness of the cold striking everywhere he'd rather of had it not and leapt off the bar stool. Luckily for the waiter, he was quick footed and jumped back to avoid being collided into.

"Shit, that's cold!" He glared at Pet, realizing what she had done when she calmly sat the glass down on the bar.

"Fuck with me again. I dare you." With that, the woman snorted a hiss and stormed back over to where she had been previously seated. Simon sat, jaw dropped and unblinking at what the hybrid had just done. "If you can't squash the fly, might as well try to drown it." She resumed eating her salad as though nothing had happened. "Now what were you saying about the birth certificate issue?"

* * *

The limo carrying Simon and Pet arrived back at the hotel, a taxing trailing closely behind it. Pet exited the limo and snidely eyeballed Derek getting out of the taxi. The limo drove off, leaving both friends to themselves.

"Mhm," Pet chided and strode into the hotel lobby, towards the elevators.

Derek sloshed behind her and joined her in the elevator cubicle. The doors closed, allowing the two people privacy. "Was dinner at least enjoyable?"

"After I took care of a fly problem, yes."

"And your quest for an ID?"

"A work in progress."

The doors opened shortly afterwards to reveal their suites' respective floor, them going to their rooms. Megan was no where to be found, which left her to think she was with Billy. A knock on her door was unexpected and she opened it to find Derek.

She opened her mouth to question him, but he cut her off. "Mind if I hang out, here, for a bit?" He proceeded into the room without a confirmation on a yes or no. "Great, thanks."

The door was promptly shut behind him by an annoyed Pet. "Okay, why?"

"Boy Scout and ol' girl are a bit occupied with each other, at the moment." He sat down on the couch and reached for the remote on the glass coffee table. "I was going to change into some dry clothes, but...never mind!"

Pet glanced down at what she was wearing and nodded in agreement. "Changing sounds great, right now."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa wait a minute, now." Pet halted. "What you're wearing is perfect for going out on a night in the big city."

The woman was surprised. "What?"

* * *

Neon flashing lettering on the side of a club lit up the street and people lined up beneath it waiting to get in. Loud, upbeat dance music echoed through the open doorway and out into the street.

Pet frowned. "Um, Derek, I'm not going to be able to get in without ID."

"Meh. Just watch and learn." He lead Pet and the other two people down an ally, along side the building, to where a side door was. Using the side of his fist, he knocked on it.

The door cracked opened to reveal a burly bouncer wearing black slacks a yellow shirt that sported the club's logo on the front. He took one look at Derek and cheered. "Hey! Whatcha know, its D-Wreck!"

Pet and Billy busted out laughing, the woman watching the blush on her embarrassed friend's face shine through the shadows. "D-Wreck? Oh, I have to hear this story."

The bouncer chucked. "Big D has been coming here for years and one night, just happened to bump into someone he'd been looking for. Made a real mess of the club and wrecked one of the bars taking this guy down. From then on, he was nick named D-Wreck."

Derek shrugged. "Hey, what can I say? At least I got the bastard."

"Yeah, that you did." The bouncer laughed again, the two men meeting in a manly hug. "Hadn't seen you in a long time. Figured you got tired of the place."

"Nah, man. Been out in Montana with my little sis," he motioned to Pet, "And my uncle. Got a place out there, now."

The bouncer looked to the black dressed woman and nodded. "Right on." He then studied the other couple. "And them?"

"Good friends," Derek answered. "I had some business in the area to take care of and decided to show my sister and her friends a good time. Figured you'd still be around to hook me up with a side entry."

The bouncer looked to the anxious people and then back to Derek. "Sure, but you know the rules, man. ID required."

Derek, Billy and Megan showed their IDs but when it came to Pet, the bounty hunter slipped a few hundred dollar bills to the bouncer. "She's not from around here, know what I mean?"

The bouncer slyly slipped the money into a pocket of his pants and opened the door for the four people. "Have a good time, guys. Drink specials for ladies until midnight."

The thundering of music could be felt throughout Pet's body, a rush of excitement filling her. The air became thick with smoke, sourcing from two smoke machines suspended from the ceiling. A disco ball reflected the many colorful, strobing lights revolving about as different patterns from sailed across the many club goers.

Derek took hold of Pet's hand, so as not to loose her, and brought to one of the bars. Various liquors sat in rows behind the bar, their shelves matching the colored, glowing plastic theme. As Pet watched the glowing ends of the lighted shelves, she notice the colors change from blue, green, yellow, orange and finally red before going back to blue.

A female bartender, one of three working the bar, wore a corset and a short skirt. She finished serving a group of people their drinks and finally came to where the four people stood waiting. Her name tag read Jazz, her smiling.

She leaned across the bar to give a hug to Derek. "Hey, sweetie! Welcome back!" Jazz then kissed the man on the cheek, leaving a lipstick smear on him. "Long time, no see!"

"How's it going, Jazzy?"

Pet's attention quickly diverted off the chatting pair to examine the rest of the club. There were two floors, the center of the bottom level being the rather packed dance floor. In front of the dance floor was the DJ's booth, a series of speakers both large and small standing on either side of the booth. Behind him was a screen where migraine inducing, psychedelic images swirled.

This was going to be a new experience for the hybrid.


	208. Bad At Farewells

**208 - Bad At Farewells**

Shot for shot, drink for drink the group shared. They danced, they laughed, they drank some more. When one thirty in the morning rolled around, they went to a 24 hour diner and laughed at whatever they could. Drunks stumbling in from a night of partying and drinking was expected, the diner staff rather patient with the group.

Derek kept trying to throw bits of wadded up, paper napkin down Pet's cleavage while the hybrid would occasionally throw ice at him. After leaving the diner a little after 3 AM, the group went back to the hotel and to their rooms.

Pet didn't hesitate to take a shower and get ready for bed. She fell onto her bed and wiggled under the covers, seeing Megan already in bed. The two women smiled at the other, the brunette speaking. "Seven in the morning is going to come way too early."

"Yup. No sense in setting the alarm. I'm willing to bet a certain someone will provide a wake up call."

Megan giggled. "Most likely." She reached over and turned off the nightstand light shared between the two beds, continuing. "Which means, we need to get some sleep."

"Agreed."

* * *

Insufferable phone ringing slowly pried Pet and Megan from their heavy slumber. A clawed hand slammed down on the phone, the hybrid answering it. "Yeah..."

"Good morning, Veronica."

"Damn it, Simon," she grumbled. "I hate you, sometimes," and fought with aggressively hanging the phone back up.

Thirty minutes later, she and the others were standing outside as the limo pulled up to them, their suitcases and bags collected at their feet. Smiling, brown eyes of the suited billionaire greeted them. "Good morning, everyone!" No one answered. A quick visual examination of the four revealed the same traits shared between them all; dark circles under their blood shot eyes. "I take it you all had a late night, last night?" Billy lazily nodded. "I see. Well, at least there was some fun that came from this trip."

Everyone loaded up into the limo and soon, found themselves at the airport where the Learjet sat waiting.

Pet stretched and rolled her shoulders in hopes of working out a crick in her neck from sleeping at a bad angle. Didn't seem to work. Neither did the hot shower or the three pain killers she took before coming downstairs. "I can't wait to be back in my own bed."

Derek snorted a laugh. "Yeah, right. You just can't wait to be back in Dr. Grant's bed."

"Same thing." The hybrid girlishly smiled. She was missing her significant other and was eager to be reunited with him.

"I guess."

Simon walked the group to the plane and stopped. "I won't be returning to Montana with you. I have an important business meeting this afternoon. Apparently, the original construction team signed on to help build the park backed out of the deal, yesterday. Something about the area being unsafe..."

Derek scoffed. "Go figure."

Pet furrowed her brow in thinking back. "The park is being built on Isla Nublar. Last time I was there, _after getting abandoned,_ the animals were dying off because of the lysine contingency John put into effect before leaving. I don't see any real danger on the island, as far as dinosaurs go." She massaged at her neck, again. "Besides, Robert and Terrence haven't even finished the paddock plans, yet."

"When I spoke with him in Montana, he and Mr. Mitchell were almost done." A boyish excitement filled the man's eyes. "Hopefully they will be done by next week so construction on the park can begin on time. I'd like to have my park up and running within the next two to three years."

Derek cut in. "Might take longer than that, going by the scale of the paddocks and overall size of the park."

"Possibly, but one can still hope, right?" Simon laugh joyously to himself and clapped his hands together. Suffering from a hang over, Megan wasn't ready for such a sudden and loud sound and jerked in being startled. "Which reminds me, before construction begins, I was going to make a trip down to Isla Nublar to get a better feel of the place if any of your or the others at the excavation are interested in joining."

Billy laughed in disbelief. "I can already tell you, Dr. Grant will definitely say no. I don't think he wants to chance a repeat of either island's incidents."

"Understandable, but the offer is there should anyone decide they're interested. In the meantime, think on it and let me know." He backed peddled away from the aircraft and was heading back to the limo. He stopped, however, to shout back out at the hybrid, "Oh and Veronica...As soon as I learn more about your request, I'll call you."

Pet nodded in understanding and with hope as she boarded the plane.

* * *

An hour into the flight, no one was awake to care about Derek's snoring. The flight seemed so much quicker going back to the dig site then it did leaving. Sleeping most of the way helped, of course.

The landing was a bit more rough than their arrival to San Diego had been, causing Megan to death grip the arm rest and Billy's hand. She didn't take long to get off the plane after it came to the stop and the hatch opened and lowered.

Derek was the last off. He took a deep inhalation Montana's late morning air and exhaled. "You know, thinking about it... do we even have a way back to the dig site?" The group visually scanned the tarmac for a helicopter and found nothing. Not even a vehicle awaiting their arrival to take them back to the excavation could be found. "This sucks."

Billy squinted against the sun and sighed. "Seems like your pal is about the big entrances, Nica, but not so much on the farewells."

Muldoon carefully placed the clear plastic ruler between two dots, roughly three inches apart on the map, and penciled in a light line between them. Standing next to him was Terrence, titling his head when thinking about the measurements. "Think 300 yards will be enough distance for the gate entrance? I mean, animals are going to be transported in and out through there."

The older man pushed aside the ruler and stick eraser to get a better look at the entirety of the map. "It's more than enough. Any sick or injured animal too big to be transported, like the Brachiosaur and like sized species, will have to be treated on site. As far as animals being transported into the paddock go, they're going to have to be within the length, height, and weight restrictions."

"Or be juveniles for easier transporting."

"That, too." Both men stared at the map, Terrence about to point out something when the satellite phone rang. Muldoon had been keeping it nearby since the four people had left and reached behind him on the kitchen counter to answer it. "Hello?"

Derek answered. "Hey, Uncle Rob."

"Where's Pet and what did that wanker do to her? Is she alright?"

Terrence trimmed his gaze down on the man, gesturing to the bunk room on whether or not he needed to get a gun or few. Muldoon held up a hand to put the man on pause.

Derek sarcastically continued. "Gee, thanks for caring! Yeah, I'm doing great, by the way!" He snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, she's fine. She's here beside me and unharmed. Just don't ask her about yesterday's examinations." He started to snicker when seeing the woman's spiteful stare shift to a raptor's. "They stuck it in her-"

Pet yelled, "Shut up you little shit," and ripped the phone away from the man. "Yes, Robert, I'm fine." She swatted Derek's hand away from her. "Hey, if you or anyone else aren't too busy, can you come get us at the airport?"

Derek hollered into the phone, "Meaning the _Old Fossil!_"

Pet shoved the man's face away from the phone and tried to resume in a composed tone of voice. "We're stuck here with out a ride and could use a pick up."

"She's missing her man meat and needs a fix!" This time, he received an elbow in the gut.

The woman smiled into the phone. "Sometime soon would be nice, too."

Derek coughed and wheezed out, "She means the manly fix, not the pick up."

Wrestling around and a profane tangent could be heard through the other line of the phone, Muldoon sighing. Quickly afterwards, the phone was hung up, the man unsure if intentional or accidental in the fighting. Either way, he hung the phone and sat it down.

Terrence continued to point to the bunk room. "Should I get the Remington, .30-06 or will a pistol suffice?"

The other man shook his head. "Call Roland and see if he'll let us borrow his Nitro."

"So you're just going to go straight for the big shit, huh?"

Muldoon tossed the pencil onto the large, table sized map of Isla Nublar and left Quarantine. A trail of dirt was kicked up in his wake when striding to the white canopy set up over the fossil excavation. By now, after sitting out for so long and enduring the weather, it had now become a light tan, color. There, standing beneath it and giving a lesson to the volunteers was the site's lead scientist.

There was no mistaking the excitement in every inch of his being when involved with his work. From the higher than normal pitched, expressive tone of voice, the way he waved his hands around in his explaining to the boyish sparkle in his eye, there was no mistaking this man loved his job.

Grant was so caught up in his educational rambling that he didn't immediately notice the ex-game warden standing off to the side and towards the back of the gathered around volunteers. In his glancing around at the many faces intently listening to his every word did he notice the familiar blue eyes patiently waiting.

Muldoon politely interrupted. "Apologies, Dr., but Veronica called. She and the others have just arrived back and are needing picked up at the air port."

Grant could barely contain his happiness. He didn't like the woman being gone for so long away from his immediate watch, should something happen, and to hear she was back safely brought him great relief. "Excellent!" He professionally excused himself from his lecturing to join the other man. "You wouldn't happen to mind if I borrowed the Jeep, would you? I'd feel better driving that into town versus the museum's truck, seeing how its engine has taken to over heating."

"Feel free to," Muldoon answered.

* * *

**I need to figure out a way to speed this up... I'm anxious to get to the stuff leading up to JW...**


	209. Thanks to Funding

**Took a little longer than I wanted to post this chapter. **

***Edit - fixed a few typos and errors my beta reader failed to notice***

* * *

**209 - Thanks to Funding**

The first day being home was the best for the group, though the rest and relaxation after being gone didn't last long. Billy was back to helping his boss manage the dig site, organize lectures at events and assist with properly managing funding checks. Pet advised Grant on not having Billy help with such things, but it was an argument that fell on deaf ears. Grant felt it best to teach his protégé the right and wrong ways of spending site checks.

For Megan, she was crawling around in the dirt looking at fossils and getting her hands dirty in whatever she could that was on site related work. Muldoon and Terrence finished the paddock planning for the new park by their requested deadline, Simon coming down in person to the dig site to both pick it up and discuss their planning. By the end of the day, he was gone, but not before Derek could rant to him about his failure to secure a way back to the dig after leaving San Diego. It was quite comical watching Muldoon grab his nephew by the collar of his shirt and throw him out of the trailer.

A week later, news of three Pteranodon captured in western Canada blew up the media and front pages of news papers. The man responsible for leading the 'dangerous and exhausting hunt', as they described it, proudly stood before the TV camera and boasted of him and his team's accomplishments. Even through the news broadcast, the level of arrogance and was too much to tolerate for Pet and her companions.

Terrence scoffed. "What a self absorbed shit head."

Derek couldn't help, but add in his own thoughts. "I think if I ever met that guy in real life, I'd punch him."

Megan stood in the kitchen and smeared a wad of peanut butter on some toast. "Why not? You already punched that one guy at InGen. Why stop there?"

Muldoon slowly rolled his impatient scowl over to his nephew. "What?"

The younger man shrugged uncaringly. "He deserved it. It was the asshole who hired Reynolds and me to hunt down Pet."

"Oh." Just as quickly as Muldoon's expression turned sour, it changed to one of satisfaction. "Good work, then." He even patted the younger man on the back in a congratulatory manner, too.

* * *

Simon was furious and threw down a news paper boldly reading **Dinosaurs in Canada**. Subtext below it followed with, **Three prehistoric creatures killed in British Columbia.** The man clenched his jaw in anger and tried to remain professional the best he could. Easier said than done.

"Killing the escaped assets was _NOT_ part of the arrangement!"

His dark eyes, smoldering brilliantly with his inner rage, burned holes into the man he had trusted to take care of the escaped Pteranodon issue _correctly_.

Vic Hoskins wasn't at all phased by the overly hateful glare he was receiving. His prideful smirk smeared across his well groomed, goateed face to the point of taunting the billionaire from across his office desk.

"Those were dangerous creatures out there, Mr. Masrani, flying around doing who knows what!" He crossed his arms over his chest and trained his gaze down on the other man. "Those things could've killed someone if they had gotten out of any more control. They almost killed that one scientist! Practically almost tore him to shreds!" Vic lowered his brow and hardened his expression. "If they had the ability to do that to a grown man inside the confines of their cage, I couldn't imagine what they could possibly do outside it." He shrugged, hands landing on his hips. "Those things were already pretty riled up, anyway, and a danger to my team. I did what I felt was best before a major catastrophe landed you in hot water, seeing how you're now responsible for InGen. That Isla Sorna incident with the family and the military getting called in could have gone a lot worse-"

"Enough!"

The room went dead quiet, Simon heaving a deep breath to calm his further growing anger.

Hoskins continued. "Look at it this way... this kind of publicity," he slammed his forefinger down on the news paper's front page title article. "Is what's going to boost your popularity ratings when you get ready to reveal your park to the world!" The heavier set man smiled rather cocky like. "The fact that you," he lifted his finger off the paper to encouragingly jab the man opposite him in the shoulder, "Are willing to go that extra measure to ensure the safety of the people is what's going to make Simon Masrani a success!"

He should just call security right now and have his man escorted out of his office. Out of his building, for that matter! But, thinking on it, no matter how obnoxious and arrogant Hoskins was, he had a point. John Hammond was constantly staying in trouble with legal matters involving people falling victim to his company's creations. Not to mention his seemingly lack of caring in taking the right preventative measures to ensure it didn't happen again. Its what eventually brought down the mighty genetics empire of InGen crumbling to bankruptcy.

And now, here he was with the famously bad reputation of InGen attached to his otherwise extremely successful corporation's banner.

Simon nodded in admittance. "You're right." He brought his eyes back up to meet the beady, dark stare of the head of InGen Security. "The animals might have been considered dangerous and yes, things could've gone a lot worse. Fortunately, they didn't." Vic was about to say something, only to be cut off by Simon holding a hand up to silence him. "However, should there come a time you are directed to do something particular such as this again... you _will_ be mindful to inform me should a change of plans occur. Understand?"

Hoskins wanted to protest, wanted to continue arguing with the CEO but refrained. He'd already been told he was right. What else did he want? "Okay. Sure thing, boss. I can do that."

The two men continued to silently and visually berate the other with acidic stares. "Good. Since we have an understanding..." Simon straightened his posture and tugged at the bottom of his suit coat. "There is nothing left to discuss." He sat down at his desk and folded up the offensive news paper, tossing it in his trash can.

Knowing he was being dismissed, Hoskins gave the other man a final scowl and left. The slamming of the office door only emphasized his over all irritation.

* * *

In the 4 months following, the dig site gradually started to improve both functionally and morale wise. New equipment and old equipment being repaired with the funding costs allowed uncovered fossils to be better mapped out, which greatly helped Grant. How had he gone so long without using this stuff? New computers and tools were brought in to better aide the site volunteers and aspiring students in their work. Things seemed to be looking up for the senior scientist. Nothing like looking up how much money was in the excavation's supporting bank account to see several thousand dollars stare back, versus the mere struggling two to three thousand. Even on some occasions, a few hundred.

Grant felt he had the hybrid to thank. Had it not been for her also being rescued off the island and her discovered by his now leading sponsor, would he be in the situation he was in? Would he be looking at the same healthy digits he was now? He felt he owed so much to the woman. She'd saved his life too many times to keep count of, saved the lives of others as well as provide what assistance she could at his excavation. Every time he thought of something to do for her in return, nothing seemed worthy enough.

He'd taken her out on several nice dinners since the funding checks had started to come in, but it all felt so meaningless. That's when it hit him. Since there was some extra money left over from the month's funding check, yet not enough to buy his next piece of equipment, why not put it to use? He didn't think his sponsor would mind a little extra money going to something just as meaningful as new excavation equipment and tools. Off he went, going to find his fiancé.

Grant was almost to Quarantine when Derek exited the trailer. The younger man took one look at the senior scientist and stated, "Watch out, man. Pet's having a week."

Grant's puzzled expression followed the bounty hunter stride off towards the excavation's fossil canopy. A shrieked hiss heard from within the trailer refocused the man on his reason for being there. But now, he wondered, if it was even a good time. He could hear the slew of profane rants flowing through the trailer's open kitchen window and cringed.

Yup, the hybrid was definitely on one.

"Am I the only fucking person in this entire damned trailer who knows how to clean up their fucking mess? Look at this shit! Is it so damn hard to take a paper towel and clean up a spill?"

Grant continued to stare at the open window, thinking it best to leave now since he hadn't been seen by the woman yet, but instead found himself opening the trailer's door. Other than the hybrid throwing a spoon into the sink, his attention happened to notice the pokerfaced expressions of Muldoon at the dining table and Terrence on the couch, staring at the hybrid.

By now, they were used to it and expected this to happen like clock work. One such occasion was so bad, Derek was either tranquilizing the woman or trying to tackle her with chloroform. Or so he was told. Thankfully he was out of town for a few days of that week to a seminar for hopeful site sponsors.

Pet slammed her hands down on the countertop and startled Grant. She hissed a snort. "Seriously, sometimes I think I live with a brain dead monkey..."

The scientist could easily figure out she was referring the youngest and more reckless man of the trailer. This kind of directed rant is what probably made him leave. Understandable. Grant scoffed. "Apparently you've never met my protégé."

The woman held a finger and glared at the man. "Don't talk to me about Billy! I know _all too well_, after seeing him as long as I did." She snorted a bark in annoyance. "Coffee stains all over the cabinet by the coffee pot...food and grease cooked onto the stove top! Let's not forget that fucking skillet he ruined!"

Yeah, he should just leave before a rant about something ages old was thrown his way. Yet, his feet took him straight to the woman. Terrence spoke up. "Might not want to do that, Doc. Derek got hit pretty good, earlier."

Pet jerked around to fully face the man, her raptor eyes stabbing daggers into him. "What?"

Smiling, Grant answered. "We should get married."

"Yeah, you asked me that how long ago? And yet, it still hasn't happened?"

Muldoon rolled his eyes and sighed. "Not this bloody rant, again."

Grant felt the sting from the venom on her words and felt a bit remorseful about it. He didn't mean for the engagement to go as long as it had, but money was a bit lacking for a wedding. Had he known it was going to stretch out as long as it had, he would've waited.

Keeping himself unruffled, the scientist continued. "You're not hearing me." Terrence grimaced and braced for the impact that was to happen. Pet snorted, her eyes remaining on the man. Grant continued. "How do you feel about next spring? With the funding checks coming in, I can have more then enough set aside by then for a nice ceremony." It was already winter, so an event such as this for a nicer part of the year didn't seem too illogical. Plus, it gave ample time to get things planned and invitations sent. "Honestly, I'd prefer sooner than that but-"

Pet forcefully colliding into him knocked the air out of his lungs. She was now clung tightly around him, her arms around his neck and legs wrapped around his waist. He stood there, wide eyed and taken by surprise at her reaction. He wasn't sure why he was so surprised, given how he knew how much a wedding meant to the woman. Guess it was the drastic, no notice change of moods from the vulgar one she was in just moments prior to the joyfully sobbing one, now.

Terrence puffed a laugh. "I can honestly say I didn't see that coming. A disembowelment, maybe..." He shrugged and tapped on the video game controller in his hand to resume what he had started playing before Pet's tangent.


	210. Tis the Season to be Waiting

**210 - Tis The Season to Be Waiting**

Cold. So cold. At least there was snow. Snow seemed to make the cold justifiable, at least to Pet. She grew up most of her life only seeing it in pictures and on TV so to see and experience it in real life was welcomed. At least, for a while. After a couple weeks of it, she was ready for it to go away and the warm summer months to return.

She shivered beneath the layers of her thick coat and matching pants as her wool gloved hand hung up a tree ornament. It was just one of many like it that had been placed on the dig site's new Christmas tree. Since there was ample money, now, Grant wanted to start decorating the dig site with festive, holiday ornaments. Christmas was just right around the corner, making it the perfect time to start enforcing his plan.

A large, elongated special event tent had been set up towards the outside of the primary dig site's collection of trailers and travel homes where the six foot Christmas tree had been set up. A handful of the volunteers had been working on decorating the tree and housing tent for most of the morning, Pet one of them. Megan and one other worked on hanging up colorful lights wrapped around a strand of silver tensile from the interior tent supports. Seated off to the side were two women, chatting away about their plans for the holidays over their working on wrapping the lights around the tensile.

To Pet's left were two children, a red headed boy and blonde haired girl, taking out the ornaments out a box and putting hooks on them. The little girl handed a sparkly red ball to Pet, smiling her biggest lacking of two front teeth. Pet took the ornament from the little girl, no older than 7, and started to get lost in thought.

Since plans for a wedding were becoming more concrete, she wondered if the thought of a family later on down the road was a possibility. A part of her longed for a child of her own, but knew it wouldn't happen. Because of what she was she was, it had long been an assumed presumption she was incapable of baring children. Even if she could, she knew Grant wasn't too keen on the idea. He was too committed to his job and preferred as few distractions as possible. Hence why he and Ellie went their separate ways. She wanted a family. He wanted his fossils.

The woman's eyes started to cloud up with tears in coming to terms with how much she wanted her own family. The little girl saw her. "Are you okay Miss Veronica?"

Pet forced a smile, blinked away the threatening tears and pretended to be in thought. Megan had overheard the girl's question and glanced behind to steal a quick glance at her friend. The hybrid shrugged to the little girl. "Where should I hang this," she questioned, holding up the red decoration in her hand.

A pink gloved finger pointed to a blank limb near where she was sitting. "Right there!"

"That actually looks like a really good spot!" Pet hung the bed ball there and the girl giggled.

Megan frowned at whatever it was bothering her friend and returned to what she was doing. Pet, however, stopped what she was doing in remembering a bit of a dilemma. She and Grant were getting married in just a few short months, meaning she needed to get her identification issue resolved and quickly.

She looked to one of the ladies wrapping the lights and tensile. "I just remembered I have something to do."

She tip toed, wove around and sprung over the obstacles of different Christmas decorations in her way between one of the tent where the tree was and to the exit at the other.

Outside looked to be an equally matching mess. A new office trailer, one much more spacey and appropriate to such needs, was being brought in soon. Grant had been informed it was to be the next morning, which meant everything in the old trailer needed to come out. While some of the women had been decorating the tent for Christmas, the same could be said for the men boxing up and moving the office's contents.

Pet strode past the couch, seated off to the side and piled down with labeled boxes, and into the husk of the office trailer. She found Grant carefully arranging empty glass vials and bottles of chemicals in a box.

She joined him where he stood, kissing him on the cheek. "Hey, babe." She glanced around the mostly empty trailer and was quite surprised at how small the interior was. How had it managed to hold so much stuff? "Where's Robert?"

The man didn't pay the woman any visual acknowledgement. "He and Derek went to town to buy some more boxes. Seems like what we had wasn't enough." Grant folded the box's tabs in on themselves and hastily scribbled 'Chems and bottles' on the side. Beneath it, he wrote 'Fragile'. He capped the black marker and stuck it back in his shirt's outside pocket. "Why? Something you needed?"

Pet nodded. "Mhm. I need to use the satellite phone."

Billy returned from his taking a box outside. His face was smudged in dust. He had overheard what the woman said and invited himself into the conversation rather sarcastically. "If you're looking to phone in a pizza, I don't think they'll deliver this far."

"Ha, ha funny!" Pet playfully nudged him in the side. "No, I need it to call Simon. I wanted to check in with him to see if he had gotten anywhere on my ID issue. I haven't heard anything back since I initially spoke with him about it when in San Diego."

"He's probably busy," Grant replied. He went over to a cabinet above the counter and opened it to find more stuff. Pet sensed a bit of irritation waft off the man. He glanced back at his protégé. "What the hell is this? I thought asked for this stuff to be packed up earlier this afternoon!"

Billy grimaced and shrugged. "I started on it, until you had me stop to help move the couch and book shelf."

Grant shook his head and sighed, opening all the cabinet doors. At least a quarter of the cabinet had been emptied. Pet continued. "So...about that satellite phone...Anyone know off the top of their head where it is? Usually someone has it on their person should it ring."

The junior scientist started to resume what he had started previously that day. Dust covered glasses and plastic containers began to line the countertop before him. This must've been how his face got so dirty. "Might want to ask Mr. Personality."

Pet glared at the back of the man's head. "Not you, too. You've been hanging around Derek too long..._Boy Scout_." She chided at the end and followed Grant out of the trailer as he carried out the box. "Okay now to find Terrence."

Grant carefully sat down the fragile box on a fold out table next to the book shelves and wiped at his brow with the back of his hand. "Couldn't tell you."

"Great. And here I was hoping this would be easy. Okay."

She gave another kiss to her fiancé's cheek and trudged through the snow to where Quarantine sat. Other than a small, plain holiday wreath hanging on its door, nothing was festive about the trailer. The hybrid made a mental note to change that when time permitted.

She went inside to find the man she was looking for standing in front of the stove, a pot over an open burner and a wooden spoon in hand. The smells of hot chocolate in the making greeted her sense of smell and it was delightful.

He gave the woman a friendly smiled. "Heya! How's the tree coming along?"

"Good, I suppose. Its not finished yet. Was taking a break to call Simon. Where's the satellite phone?" She stood next to the man to peer inside the pot.

"Check my coat pocket. I had it earlier incase Robert and Shit Bird called while they were in town." He motioned with a nod of his head to his coat laying on the couch.

Pet went over to the puffy, black and yellow insulated coat and retrieved the desired item from a front pocket. She flipped the phone over to look at the back where an index card, cut to fit, listed some important numbers. Hammond's old number had, of course, been crossed out and it was the first one listed. Below it read Ellie with her old number crossed out next to it and the new number written above it.

Next were the museum's two numbers followed by what was easily recognized as Derek's cell phone number, the name 'Hot Shit' labeled next to it. Pet could've easily given herself a concussion should she have face palmed at that moment. Below it was a number Roland could best be reached at.

Pet arched a brow. "Why do we still have Roland's number?"

Terrence shrugged, sipping a sample of the hot chocolate from the wooden spoon. "Never know when we might need that extra fire power."

The hybrid gave him a questionable stare down before skimming down the list to read off the following. "Mo Money, CA. Money Bags, India..." She stopped to stare unimpressed like to Terrence. "Really?"

"That's Derek's doing, not mine!"

"So childish."

* * *

Muldoon pulled up to Quarantine and shut off the Jeep's engine. "Hopefully we have enough boxes, this time."

Derek slid out of the passenger seat, agreeing. "If we don't, I'm not going back to town. Been there, done that. It sucked."

The Jeep's back hatched was opened to reveal the many sized, collapsed boxes. "Start taking those to the office while I find Personality. Break time is over."

Muldoon trudged through the snow and into Quarantine, not surprised to find the hybrid inside. In her hands was a coffee cup steaming with what could only be guessed as cocoa, seeing how the trailer smelled of it. Next to her was the satellite phone.

The woman swallowed a sip of her drink. "Welcome back. How was the town trip?"

"A bloody disaster," the man answered, getting himself a mug of cocoa. "There was a major wreck at the intersection in front of that burger joint you love so much and a truck in a ditch some ways down the street after that." He sat down next to the woman and glanced down at the phone. "Did you try calling?"

"Not you guys, but Simon. Wanted to check in with him about that birth certificate issue."

"Ah. And?"

"He's in a business meeting, right now. His secretary told me to call back in an hour." Pet took another sip of her cocoa. "I hate this sit and wait bullshit."

* * *

**Dec 1 note edit: To those wondering, I am still working on his fan fic as I have been for the past couple weeks. At the moment, deeply stuck on wondering one of two options. One will include a couple additional chapters taking place in the early days when Pet was still working at the zoo in Kenya and shortly before her being transferred to the islands. Should I go with this idea, I'm not sure if I can post or add chapters taking place earlier in the fic or not. The other option is leaving things as is. But since thinking about this latest idea, it only makes sense to include it. I've even gone and adjusted way later chapters to reflect the alt / possible main story changes. Before I proceed with the fic from this point forward, I'm going to have to figure out what I'm wanting to do :( Damn new information popping up after I've already written and posted this much! LOL**


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